Skylanders: Darkest Hour: Rise of the Dragon King
by Numbuh 94
Summary: We did take an oath to protect Skylands. That doesn't mean we've truly come together yet, though. There are still troubles within our ranks-some Skylanders are distrusting of other Skylanders, some have secrets, and some... some are just different. But we've got bigger problems from Deu Sol. Rise of the Dragon King / Swap Force / Book of Heroes
1. Spyro Learns His Limits

**_Spyro Learns His Limits_**

* * *

"Spyro, Jet-Vac, Drobot, Whirlwind, I think a practice match would be in order," Eon said, gently urging Spyro and the others onto the Lockdown Islands battlefield. Spyro looked at the aging Portal Master and sighed. "Eon, I don't think—"

"Spyro, using your powers is one thing. I don't want you to hone them—I want you to learn their limits. What they can and cannot do," Eon cut him off. "Now, on you go."

Spyro turned and walked onto the teleporter. He was placed in the westernmost island of the Lockdown Islands. Jet-Vac held up his vacuum and grinned. "Skies the limit, Eon! Come, now, ole' boy, don't tell me you think Spyro is losing his touch?" He added pointedly. Eon shook his floating head slowly.

"No. But I do think Spyro needs to learn his limits. Had it not been for Cynder the other day that Crystal Golem would have had his way with Spyro," Eon murmured.

Spyro ducked his head. That day hadn't been fun at all… Had it not been for Cynder, it was unlikely he'd be there now thinking about it.

"Eh, I see your point," Jet-Vac muttered.

Jet-Vac was placed in the easternmost island, Drobot in the northernmost, and Whirlwind in the southernmost.

"Ready… Set… Go!"

Spyro charged for the easternmost island. If he was going to battle someone, Jet-Vac would make a nice sparring partner. He was getting more powerful by the day, he was…

Using the teleporter, he was placed on the island. Jet-Vac faced him, looking very uncomfortable. He mouthed something Spyro didn't understand, and began firing air at him with his vacuum, several landing on the Purple Dragon's body.

Spyro dodged the next few and aimed some air blasts of his own at Jet-Vac. He didn't want to use his Fire Breath ability; that was highly effective on Air Skylanders, which Spyro felt would be unfair.

Jet-Vac easily dodged. "Come on, Spyro, that can't be all you have! And if you're going easy on me, I'll never forgive you, Magical Purple Dragon or not!" Jet-Vac sounded quite irritable as he said this, and began to fly around Spyro's head.

Spyro charged at Jet-Vac, his horns flaming; he hit the wingless Sky Baron right on the left side, causing him to be thrown out of the air and off to the side. Jet-Vac jumped back up and began sucking Spyro close to him using his vacuum.

Spyro used his Charge attack to turn around try to run away, but it was very powerful; he was sucked right in and nicked on his shoulder. Jet-Vac stopped the attack and Spyro took the opportunity to launch a Lightning Breath attack on him.

Jet-Vac hit the ground with a dull thud and didn't get back up. "Oh, no, Jet-Vac, are you okay?" Spyro knelt to his friend's side and nudged him.

Jet-Vac suddenly jumped up and shoved Spyro to the ground. "No need to be falling for that old trick, now is there, Spyro?" Jet-Vac grinned. "Oh, I'm alright," he added at Spyro's worried, yet mutinous expression. But he didn't sound fine; in fact, a few feathers were missing from his arm where Spyro had blasted him and he was taking ragged breaths.

Drobot and Whirlwind were locked in what could have been mortal combat. Drobot was firing lasers in every direction, and Whirlwind was doing all she could to dodge. She began shooting rainbows and clasping her wings, forming tempest clouds. One of the clouds slammed into Drobot and began shooting electricity at him. His suit began to show static electricity dancing all over it, and it failed. Drobot stood, unmoving. He began struggling to remove the suit, using his claws to thrust the mask off his face.

"Nice job, Whirlwind! You're getting way better," Drobot smiled, his blue eyes locked firmly on Whirlwind as she landed next to him.

"I'm just glad none of those lasers hit me this time. Good Eon's Throne, they hurt!" She exclaimed, even though she was beaming at Drobot and curling her feathered tail around his leg.

"Enough, Drobot, Whirlwind. You all did well—" Eon was cut off by Jet-Vac, who fell to his knees and clasped his right arm to his left. Whirlwind fired several glittering rainbows at him, but they didn't do anything. Her healing powers could go only but so far; what was wrong? Had Spyro's attack had more effect than he thought…?

"See? See! Clouds are evil!" Ermit came scampering out from the house Eon had made for them to stay in. Ermit pointed up at the clouds and at one of Whirlwind's remaining tempest clouds. "And she makes 'em, she does!"

"Ermit, I'm well aware Whirlwind creates storm clouds. But they are not evil. Whirlwind was nowhere near Jet-Vac in that arena match. Ermit, contact Flynn and tell him to bring Hugo, Cali, and Double Trouble," Eon said. "Double Trouble may know a spell that can fully heal Jet-Vac.

Ermit cast a mutinous look at Whirlwind before turning and disappearing back into the home. Eon lifted Jet-Vac close to his floating face using his newfound powers of telekinesis.

Jet-Vac tried to whisper something to Eon, but Spyro heard all of it.

"Spyro shot some electricity at me, it hurt my arm. Didn't want to tell the fellow because he was so scared of hurting us before we began… But I hate how he thinks that he's better than everyone, so he's afraid to battle us. Thinks he can beat us all…" Jet-Vac trailed off.

Eon nodded. "Yes, Jet-Vac, we can fix you," Eon said loudly, trying to cover up for Jet-Vac's quiet talking.

Spyro growled and turned away. He didn't need them to pity him; he had indeed hurt Jet-Vac, just like he had told Eon he would. "I… I'm gonna go find Gil and Sparx," he said quickly, flapping his wings and taking off into the sky.

He made a turn and soon spotted Eon's Citadel. This was the old Skylanders' home. It was known as the Ruins before the Core of Light, which shimmered at the Citadel's center, was fixed.

"Spyro?"

Spyro landed and recognized the thick accent of Chill right away. She gazed at him with her icy blue eyes before speaking again. "Spyro, Sparx, Gill Grunt, and Trigger Happy are in Persepone's hut. She said something about upgrading their abilities."

Chill had a strong accent on vowels, and unless it was a name, she always used long vowels. She also spoke quick and quietly. She was holding her ice javelin and shield. She also had some sort of issue with Persephone's name, often calling her 'Porsepone' (sounding like Por-sep-ony).

Spyro nodded his thanks and walked away from her and the Core of Light. Zap soon came into view. He was zooming around the citadel, Hot Dog on his tail. "Hot Dog'll catch you one day, Zap, yes, yes, yes!" He called after the water dragon.

"Unlikely!" Zap shot back in his gurgley tone.

Spyro kept walking even as the water dragon whizzed by him, shouting a greeting to Spyro, and even as Hot Dog tried to knock him to the ground and lick him to death.

Spyro soon saw Gill Grunt, Trigger Happy, and Sparx the Dragonfly all next to each other, talking, sitting on some rocks.  
Spyro trotted over to them. "Ugh, today was awful," he mumbled.

"Why's that?" Cynder began walking over to him. Her dark violet scales shone in the sunlight and her blue eyes glinted. The ghost ally she kept at her side let out a small, monotonous growl, but Cynder said, "Shh, no need for that, Phantasmal," she cooed to it, and it stopped growling at once.

"Cynder," Spyro found himself smiling at her, and flicked his tail for her to come closer.

Gill Grunt and Trigger Happy recoiled slightly. "Erm, you know what Spyro, I just remembered, Gurglefin asked me to get him somethin', so I'll see ya later!" Gill Grunt said quickly, using his water jet-pack to 'fly' away.

Cynder watched ruefully as Trigger Happy scampered away behind the gillman, saying he was supposed to help him.

She hung her head and watched them through the corners of her eyes. "They still don't trust me…"

"Hey," Spyro tilted her head up. "I trust you, and Eon trusts you. That should be good enough for them."

She smiled and twirled her tail. "So, what happened that was so horrible?"

"Eon wanted me, Drobot, Whirlwind, and Jet-Vac to have a practice battle and I accidentally got Jet-Vac real bad on his arm," Spyro said. It was now his turn to lower his head and sigh. "If I can't control my powers and what I do with them, how am I supposed to be a trustworthy Skylander? I mean, I am their leader, aren't I?"

"Technically the Giants like to think of themselves the leader of all Skylanders in their element, but yes, Spyro, many still think of you as our leader, including me," Cynder said, raising his head as he had just done to her minutes earlier.

"Cynder, I need to get better at controlling my powers and learning my limits. Can you help me with that? You're one of the most powerful Skylanders here; learned that the hard way the last time we fought…" he joked weakly, grinned and dodging her swipe as she went to cuff him.

"Oh, please! Tough? I fear nothing!" Cynder puffed out her chest indignantly, and lifted her head high. "And my power will haunt you!"

"Oh, yeah?" Spyro smirked. "Mess with the dragon, get the horns!" He charged at her and she turned to shadow, diving under him, leaving ghosts behind. Several attacked him before he managed to bat them away.

She was examining her claws, as though bored, by the time he was done. "Geez, Spyro, you're slow," she grinned and dove at him in her shadow forme again.

Spyro managed to dodge, but once again was swarmed by small, yellow, transparent ghosts. He began firing fireballs at the small ghosts, this time, quickly defeating them. He turned to Cynder and tackled her, managing to knock her away.

She puffed and shoved him off. "Nice." She huffed. "Think you can do it again?" She grinned and turned back to shadow, crisscrossing the ground around him, leaving tons of ghosts.

He was swarmed by them all at once. He activated his flame shield and began firing attacks at them, and they began to disappear. Suddenly, Cynder jumped out at him from the ground and lashed claws at him. He dodged and headbutted her, sending her flying.

She stopped herself with her wings and stayed in midair for a few seconds. "Nice going. I think you understand now?" She asked him.

"Understand what? That you can be a total jerk if you want?" He laughed.

"No!" She puffed her chest out again. "No, I mean, that you have to know what you can and can't do. You thought you could easily take me on, but I taught you different," she haughtily smirked and twirled her tail in the air next to her Ghost Ally, who began growling at Spyro again.

"Humph. All you taught me different was that your ghosts are a pain in the tail," he said, flicking his tail to indicate a small ghost still trying to attack his tail.

Cynder sighed heavily and slammed her tail on the ground. "No! Listen, will you? Don't you see? You have to respect what others can do. Being afraid to battle them can be seen as an insult. That's why Jet-Vac reacted the way he did," she said.

"So, if I told Wrecking Ball I'd roast him if we were to battle he'd take it as an insult?" Spyro joked.

"Spyro, don't be ridiculous," she growled.

"Alright, alright, I see your point—"

"Help!"

Spyro could have recognized that accent if it was three hundred miles away. Chill was in trouble.

"Spyro, come here!" Zap shouted. He was hanging over the side of the island, and looked stressed. Spyro ran to his side and slowed down just before ramming into the water dragon. "Yeah, Zap?"

"Look!"

Spyro looked down. Zap was holding onto Chill, who was dangling over the side of the Citadel. Her ice javelin was injected into the side of the island, and was the only thing besides Zap keeping her from falling who-knows-where.

Spyro gasped. "Chill, hang on!"

He jumped off the side and tried to fly, but the winds had kicked up again. These winds were known around Skylands as the Jet Winds, or Sonic Winds. They were so strong, only Air Element beings could fly in them. That meant Spyro needed an Air Skylander.

"Sonic Boom!" He called, falling back onto the Citadel.

The griffin came running, pausing and taking in the scene. "Yes, Spyro?" She asked.

"Chill's fallen, and I can't fly in the Jet Winds, you need to get her," Spyro explained quickly.

"Chill!" Zap exclaimed.

Spyro looked down just in time to see Chill's grip slip off of Zap's feet and her javelin, and she began plummeting. With a raucous screech, Sonic Boom took off into the air and dived, catching the Water Skylander as she fell. Beating her wings strongly against the force of the Winds, Sonic Boom returned to the Citadel, carefully placing Chill on the ground.

"Oh, t'ank you, Sonic Boom!" Chill exclaimed, grabbing the griffin by the neck. Sonic Boom smiled weakly before turning away. Three eggs lay, unhatched, on the ground. Spyro knew all too well that Sonic Boom spent most of her free time with her hatchlings, in the few minutes they could stay out.

Chill nodded curtly and put herself back in order, straightening out her uniform. "Well, Sonic Boom, I do have an idea…" She began slowly.

Zap still looked as though he was ready to have a heart attack, but nodded. Spyro was interested in hearing it too.

"T'is wizard who put t'is curse on your young… we could track him down, and demand he free your hatchling from t'ere curse," she suggested.


	2. Freeing Sonic Boom's Young

**_Freeing Sonic Boom's Young_**

* * *

Sonic Boom was nudged awake. "Get up, Sonic Boom. Spyro's assembling the team of Skylanders to help you."

"Wha…?" She lifted her head and vaguely recognized Sunburn.

The phoenix-dragon hybrid seemed to shimmer, even though there was no light to be shining on him in the cavern Sonic Boom slept in. She knew this was because, being part phoenix, he shared the ability to give off light with the sun. His tail constantly made a rolling motion, going slowly up and down, up and down… He had a blue crest of feathers around his red eyes, and red scales going down from his chest to base of his tail. His feet were more phoenix-like, with orange-yellow, scaly, bird-like feet. His wings also resembled a phoenix's, although his body alternated between feathers and scales of the same colors—red and gold.

He turned and walked out of her cavern, the light going with him. Sonic Boom got up and walked outside, following him. Spyro was standing with a line of Skylanders who, she noticed, all had one same ability—they all had the ability to fly.

Whirlwind, Drobot, Cynder, Flashwing, and Spyro himself were all lined up. He also had Gill Grunt and Jet-Vac assembled behind him.

Sunburn joined their side, and Sonic Boom stood in front of them. "You know, I really don't feel like this should be done, he is a very powerful wizard, I tried to fight him myself, you know, he's not—"

"Oh, stop it Sonic Boom, we know what we're up against. We'll eat him like haggis, we will," Jet-Vac said cheerfully.

"If you like that stuff," Cynder whispered into Whirlwind's ear, who looked torn between backing away and giggling.

Sonic Boom sighed. "I just don't want anybody to get hurt."

"Sonic Boom, I think we can handle a kooky old wizard," Spyro seemed close to laughing, and was grinning jokingly.

"He's not laughing matter, Spyro! Bloody git!" She turned and stalked to the back of the assembled Skylanders, steaming. This wizard was the reason she was like this now—reserved, overprotective—he had taken her young, and forced them to be reborn over and over and over again.

"Nice going, Spyro," Jet-Vac elbowed him and the Purple Dragon looked at him like he'd grown an extra head. "What's your problem?" He demanded grumpily. "Ow!"

Jet-Vac elbowed him again. "You upset her!"

"Like I meant to," Spyro snorted scornfully. "Jet-Vac, actually try to act like you have a brain, will you? Everybody knows you have a major crush on Sonic Boom, and always have," he growled. "Now, take flight!"

"That's my line!" Cynder interjected arrogantly.

"Whatever!" Spyro growled, thrusting forward from the ground.

Sonic Boom was the last to fly after them. The Jet Winds had not yet kicked up; they usually didn't until the afternoon, and Spyro had made sure to go early.

"Spyro, one question, how do we figure out where he is?" She asked.

"Easy! Double Trouble used some magic of his and managed to track him down using the signature of magic he left on Sonic Boom's hatchlings!" Spyro called back.

"Right…" Sonic Boom still found it strange they were going after the wizard that had detained her for so long. Now, she would get her revenge… None of the other Skylanders thought of her as threatening. No, they thought she was the depressed mother who sat in her cavern all day, talking to her young and repeatedly having to watch them grow for the few minutes of their life before returning to their eggshells…

She would show them.

She continued to follow them. Finally, Spyro came to a halt and began glaring at a small island below them, floating seemingly peacefully like any other Skyland.

"Is he there, Spyro?" Sunburn asked urgently.

"Yes, definitely," Spyro made a downward dive towards the island, and landed on the ground. Sonic Boom took in the surroundings as she landed. There was something off about this place…

"Watch out!" Jet-Vac cried, jumping in front of Sonic Boom. He shot multiple air thrusts from his vacuum, but they were futile against the magic that confounded him. Jet-Vac was knocked to the ground, and blue sparks began shimmering in the air around him as he knelt to the ground.

"Sonic Boom, you daren't try and track me down?"

Sonic Boom turned her eyes to slits. "Think you're slick, do you, Slate?" She snarled.

"Quite," the wizard revealed himself. He wore dark, navy-blue colored robes with silver stars on them. He had half-moon spectacles over his eyes but had a long, black, claw-shaped scar on his right cheek. He glared at Sonic Boom through malicious red eyes. "Sonic Boom, I thought I told you if you ever tried to track me down I'd make sure your hatchlings couldn't even hatch?"

"Like I'd listen to you!" She scornfully roared, the sound barrier breached; her roar attack slammed into the wizard. He was shoved backwards, but nonetheless enraged.

"Avada ked—"

"Harry Potter much?" Sunburn growled.

"Not on your life, pal!" Cynder dove at the ground, turning to shadow. She left a trail of shining silver-yellow ghosts in her wake, and then jumped out of the ground, slashing and shooting lightning at the wizard.

Gill Grunt took charge next. He began spraying water at the wizard. Tired of the Skylanders toying with him, he shouted some words, and all the attacking Skylanders were thrown backwards. A glimmering force-field was placed around him.

"For your information, Harry Potter was real, and so was Voldemort, and I created all those spells they used!" He stood still and glared at them. "Now… for some more original spells," he said. He held up his hand and blue sparks appeared. He sent them at the Skylanders.

"Shining through!"

Sunburn dashed in front of Sonic Boom using his Flight of the Phoenix ability, and took the hit for her. He fell to the ground, looking frozen. However, he must have still been able to talk. "You have to be the one to beat him! Double Trouble said that the magic signature could not be broken unless you forced him to take it off!"

"Right!" Sonic Boom nodded. She darted around the wizard, roaring all the time. She daren't release any of her eggs, as she knew the wizard would surely find a way to punish her worse now for attacking him…

"I'll finish you!" Sonic Boom roared. She began roaring as loud as possible at the force field, and it broke. She forced her way inside and dashed towards the wizard. Nothing but vengeance was on her mind.

She roared again. Small wakes of the air began to move and slammed into the wizard. He was thrown from his safe barrier, and out onto the ground.

Cynder charged at him again, but the wizard seemed to stop her in midair, and then toss her to the side. She landed on the ground harshly, and did not get up again.

"YOU WILL NOT HARM ANY ONE ELSE!" Sonic Boom shouted. She headbutted the wizard to the ground and held him there with her clawed feet, putting her beak right in his face and opening it. One more roar would finish him…

"Alright, I'll take the spell off!" He exclaimed, shielding his face.

She closed her jaws and backed away. "You will?" She narrowed her eyes distrustfully.

"Yes, yes! Ovucom Sileo!"

Sonic Boom tentatively spat up one egg. It hatched and one of her hatchlings, Storm, blinked up at her. He looked at the wizard and instinctively ducked his head. "Grrr… bad wizard! Right, Mum?" He asked.

"Right, but don't attack him," Sonic Boom said quietly, placing herself threateningly between the aged wizard and Storm.

"Hey! I can take him!" Storm complained.

"No!" Sonic Boom growled, flaring her wings. Scared by the sudden outburst, Storm turned and ran to Jet-Vac, hiding behind his left foot.

"Oh, come on, Storm, no need for that, ole' boy, go back to your mum," he said.

"No, keep him there, Jet-Vac," she ordered.

"Okay then," he answered, picking up Storm.

Five minutes passed… then seven… then ten. Sonic Boom flattened her ears, not wanting to hear the sound that she knows so well when her hatchlings would return to their eggshells. But she heard no such sound…

Jet-Vac set the young griffin on the ground. "Sonic Boom, this means it's broken, yes?"

"Yes," Sonic Boom growled. She angrily lashed her tail back and forth. She would have loved an excuse to do horrible things to the wizard.

"We've gotten what we came for, Sonic Boom," Spyro growled from beside Cynder. "We should go home."

"Right," Sonic Boom released her other three hatchlings, Godspeed, Mayflower, and Lionheart.

They joined their brother and began chasing around each other. Sonic Boom shooed them into the air, where, even though they had small and fragile wings, they beat them strongly against the rising wind currents.

"Come on, we need to get home before the Jet Winds kick up!" Spyro shouted. He grabbed Cynder and began flying ahead of them, the others following. Sonic Boom followed them as well, cherishing the thought of her young now being free to grow up, and live a true life…

"Cynder!"

Spyro was having trouble holding on to the dragoness as the winds began to kick up. He was having enough trouble holding himself in the air, let alone Cynder…

"Spyro, let her go! You can't hold her, you'll be dragged down!" Gill Grunt shouted.

Nobody seemed to protest to the order, but Drobot and Whirlwind looked horrorstruck. Spyro gripped the dark dragoness harder, growling loudly. "No!" He snarled through a muffled voice.

"Spyro, do it, please!" Sunburn, looking very worried, said. "Look at you!"

Spyro, though still flying in the air, was beginning to teeter dangerously. Storm, Sonic Boom noticed, was glaring at Cynder. "I was out of my egg when I heard the story of Cynder," he growled. He rammed his head into Spyro's jaw, causing him to drop her.

"No, Storm!" Sonic Boom shouted. She grabbed the baby griffin, and could only watch as Cynder dropped, unconscious… Sonic Boom sped after her, and was beating her wings furiously against the air, but couldn't catch her. The Jet Winds were now carrying her, and no matter how fast Sonic Boom sped after her, she couldn't catch Cynder.

She stopped and returned to the others. "I… couldn't catch… couldn't catch her," she panted, releasing Storm who fluttered in the air looking dumbfounded.

Spyro gaped at them, tears welling in his eyes. He rounded on Storm. "Look what you've done!" He snarled.

"I thought she was bad! That's how everyone always talked about her!" Storm shied away from him, ducking behind Sonic Boom.

"Spyro, you wouldn't have been able to hold her the entire way there, now let's go," Gill Grunt tried to assure him, but the Magic Dragon only turned away. "Leave me alone," he growled.

Spyro moved ahead of them a bit and was wobbling in the air currents, but still beat his wings strong. Eon's Citadel came into view. Spyro landed and went straight to the Core of Light.

"What's happened? Spyro looked upset…" Eon's spirit floated towards them. "Where's Cynder?"

Sonic Boom's wings touched the ground and she trailed her tail. "Storm thought she was bad. He rammed Spyro in the head while he was carrying her because she was unconscious, and he dropped her. I couldn't catch her," Sonic Boom let her wings trail on the ground as well. Storm, Godspeed, Mayflower, and Lionheart all followed her.

Eon, appalled, floated towards Spyro. "Spyro, is everything—"

"No," he sniffed, cutting Eon off. "Cynder's… gone."

Sonic Boom found it very hard to be depressed that the dark dragoness was gone, especially with the fact she had her offspring back and knowing what Cynder had done beforehand to the Dragon Realms, she really didn't care.

But she felt terrible about it whenever she saw Spyro's face. It was always misconfigured in some kind of rage, or horrible sadness.


	3. Cynder's Doubts

_**Cynder's Doubts**_

* * *

"Is she alright?"

"What would a dragon be doing down here?"

"Strange, isn't it?"

Cynder slowly raised her head, and the world seemed to be a hazy blur. Remembering that she had last been attacking the wizard that had trapped Sonic Boom's young, she leapt to her feet and snarled at them. "Where's that lying, good-for-nothing wizard, huh?"

The 'people' in front of her were spotted, four-legged creatures with long tails and were orange-yellow. Speckled with black dots, and with a black line running from the corners of their eyes to their nose, they looked a lot like Hunter, a friend Spyro had explained to her a long time ago…

"Um, no, no wizards here, ma'am," one of them said, sounding like a male to her. "We're cheetahs, by the way." The male cheetah stood on his back legs, exposing a white belly still speckled with black spots. He now used his tail to balance on the ground.

"You fell onto our Skyland, Grassy Plains," a female one explained, also getting on two feet.

"So… they left me here?" She backed away from them. But Spyro wouldn't do that… would he? He always said he'd always do what was better for the Skylanders, and in that fight we had a long time ago he said that… that I couldn't be the most important thing anymore… Her eyes stinging, she turned away from the cheetahs. "Yeah, I'll find a way home," she told them.

"Won't be doing any such thing right now," the third and last cheetah said, getting on two feet. "Jet Winds are gonna last until morning."

"I know," she nodded. "Thanks, and see you later."

She began running from them, not willing to let them see her break down. She was Cynder… she shouldn't be so easily breakable… should she?

She stopped when she reached sandy ground. Out in front of her, water licked at the sandy beach. It slowly meandered back and forth. She ducked her head and her tail hit the ground. They had left her there. She was certain of it.

"All the Skylanders wanted to get rid of me!" She cried, curling up in the sand. "Nobody wanted me there… nobody but Spyro, and I'm not very sure if he even wanted me there!" She said to no-one in particular. She looked at her reflection in the metallic end of her tail. What was so wrong with her that nobody wanted her there…?

_I've done so much to try and stop all the negative thoughts they have about me from the time I terrorized the Dragon Realms! I was under Malefor's control! What more do they want from me?_ She felt like screaming the thoughts to the wind, but she was already embarrassed enough after her meltdown, and if anybody saw her, she'd purposely dive into the ocean and drown herself.

Completely lost and going between being depressed and angry, she got up and began to dig in some damp sand. She needed to create some sort of den. If they wanted her gone, she'd stay gone. She'd leave them be.

_If they don't want me, I don't want them!_ She tried to think hatefully, but only was more depressed after the thoughts. I just don't understand… Spyro would have at least sent a search party after me, wouldn't he? Or wouldn't he have stopped anybody from leaving me…?

A thought struck her worse than a blow of claws to the head. What if he was the one who left me here…?

She curled into the tightest ball she could, covering herself with her wings and tail and cowering, as though she could hide from the thought that ravaged her mind. Suddenly, a dark thought traveled through her head.

Then he doesn't need me, and that means I don't need him. Growling, she laid her head down and tried to fall asleep.

* * *

"Spyro, I've 'ad Sonic Boom, Lightning Rod, Whirlwind, Warnado, and Jet-Vac all over Skylands. We 'aven't found sight of Cynder drragoness," Swarm reported to Spyro.

"Thanks, Swarm," Spyro mumbled back half-heartedly. Truth be told, Spyro felt as though he knew Cynder was gone. If the Air Skylanders could not find her, then she was almost certainly gone…

"Spyro, that's not true," Scarlett sang, floating by him. She was Ninjini's sister, her twin, born the same day. "I can still sense her Magic Signature. Every creature who's ever lived has one, but in all honesty Spyro, Cynder wasn't very trustworthy," Scarlett murmured.

"I'm fed up with everyone thinking that, what has Cynder ever done—AFTER BECOMING A SKYLANDER—that suggests she still has dark tendencies?" He demanded. "What?"

Scarlett, obviously caught off guard, did not respond directly to the question. "Well, I… Spyro, she's never done anything. But think about it. What she did to the Dragon Realms was horrible, was it not? Wouldn't she have killed Ignitus had it not been for your interference?"

Spyro gritted his teeth. "She was under Malefor's control. None of that matters now," he added darkly. "And…" He gulped. "I love her. I don't want her to be gone…"

"Well, rest assured she's not," Scarlett seemed to growl, floating away from him, leaving him alone with his thoughts.

"Jet-Vac, Swarm, Whirlwind!" Spyro shouted.

The flightless Sky Baron, Giant, and unicorn-dragon hybrid showed up almost immediately.

"Spyro, I've already told you, dark dragon must be gone, because nobody 'as found 'er," Swarm said, sounding annoyed.

Whirlwind slapped him with her right wing. "Spyro, we'll search for as long as we need to," she said, muttering something under her breath afterwards.

Jet-Vac shuffled his feet. "Spyro, ole' boy, I may be your friend, but, and I hate to say this, but I don't think Cynder ever… belonged," he murmured.

"Jet-Vac, repeat the three words you said before 'Cynder'," Spyro growled.

"'I don't think'…? Oh, I see," Jet-Vac, looking highly embarrassed, shuffled his feet again and mumbled "Sorry."

"Look, Scarlett just said she can still sense Cynder's Magic Signature. She isn't interested in talking to me anymore, so I think you should go talk to her…" Spyro trailed off, fighting back some more tears. "To find out where Cynder is, so you know where to look."

* * *

"Come on, get out of the sand, the tide's rising!"

"What…?" Cynder groggily looked up and found something that looked like Wham-Shell glaring at her. "Come on, up!" He grumbled.

She moved and realized water was licking at her paws. She darted away from it using her Shadow Dash ability, leaving a trail of transparent yellow ghosts. Intrigued, the crustaceous creature moved toward one.

"Don't touch them, they'll hurt you!" Cynder hissed. It backed off immediately.

"Who are you, and why are you here?" It demanded.

"Cynder. And why I'm here, I'm not too sure," she said quietly. She turned to leave, her Ghost Ally, Phantasmal, at her side.

"There she is!"

Cynder turned her head towards the familiar voice, and saw Jet-Vac, Whirlwind, and Swarm diving at her. She dodged them and snarled at them, "How dare you return to me now!" She Shadow Dashed past them, leaving a trail of see-through ghosts between her and the Air Skylanders.

"Come near me, and I'll give you some lightning scars!" She screeched.

"Cynder, calm down! What is problem, dark dragon?" Swarm asked, sounding quite annoyed with her.

"You left me here on this dumpy Skyland, that's what!" She snarled. "Don't act so surprised I found out your little plan, Whirlwind, I knew you all wanted to get rid of me! I knew it all along!" She slashed her claws through the sand, kicking it up into the air. She turned to dive away from them, only to be faced with the swollen ocean. She cursed out loud and dove into the salty water.

"What is her deal?" She heard Whirlwind exclaim.

Cynder swam through the water with ease. Whirlwind would have her feathers weighing her down, Swarm wouldn't be able to, due to the fact he could not risk getting his wings wet, and Jet-Vac's vacuum would be messed up if he followed her.

But Whirlwind was unfazed by this. She dove into the water and caught hold of Cynder's wings anyway. Angry that they would dare come after her after dumping her there, Cynder released her Lightning Breath into the water, shocking her and Whirlwind, knocking them both out.

* * *

"We got her!"

Spyro couldn't believe what he just heard. He leapt from where he sat, beaming, and turned to see a soaking wet Jet-Vac, exhausted Swarm, and singed Whirlwind and Cynder.

"What's happened? Cynder? Whirlwind?" Spyro nudged them, and Whirlwind spluttered up water, before snarling insults about Cynder and saltwater. Cynder was slower to get up, but she did.

She narrowed her eyes to slits and opened her jaws, releasing a long, angry rod of Black Lightning Breath.

"Cynder, what's wrong?" Spyro asked her.

"You let them leave me there!" She snarled. "I know they wanted me gone! I knew it the day Eon recruited me and I met them! I know you would do what the whole of the Skylanders want rather than what I want!" She continued to growl and snarl, sinking her silver claws into the ground.

"Cynder, that's not what happened," Eon's head floated past them, and he shooed them away from himself. "Move out of the way, all of you," he said.

"Cynder, you were unconscious. Carrying you back to us, the Jet Winds kicked up. Sonic Boom's young had been freed from the spell, and Storm had only heard negative stories about you. He smashed into Spyro's jaw and he dropped you. Sonic Boom was the only Air Skylander there who had a prayer of catching you, and she couldn't. It was a mistake. Calm down," Eon explained smoothly. "Now do you understand?"

"Is that true?" Cynder swung her head to stare at Spyro. If it wasn't true, she could use her piercing blue gaze to get the answer from Spyro.

"Yes, that's what happened," Spyro smiled weakly. "I'm so glad you're back, Cynder."

She slowly turned her curled lips back into a smile. "I missed you too," she said.

"Hooray, the Dragon Realms' number one friend has returned," Scarlett sarcastically said to her sister, Ninjini, who stifled a giggle.

Cynder immediately felt insecure again. Why did they torment her so much over what had happened so long ago…?

"Leave her alone or I'll give you something to snicker about!" Spyro boomed. Everyone went quiet and took to staring at him, looking extremely shocked. "Yeah, I yelled! I can yell!" He glared at Sprocket who was looking ready to make a comment to Drill Sergeant, who hid behind Bouncer's wheel.

Cynder smirked. "If any of you have anything you got to say about me, say it to my face!" She said loudly, joining Spyro's side, entwining his tail with hers.

"I got something to say," Chop Chop stepped forward, a pocket of Skylanders quickly moving away from him. "I say, Cynder is a great Skylander warrior, and should be treated as such," he held his sword straight up and then bowed.

Eye-Brawl and Ghost Roaster murmured approval. Cynder's sprits uplifted automatically. She grinned at them, mouthing, "Thank you."

Chop Chop nodded his head. "No trouble."

* * *

**The main plot starts developing next. The next chapter is dark and bittersweet.**

**And a secret: Cynder has a blowout with every Skylander at least once sometimes during the story to develop a plot twist farther down the line.**


	4. Meet Ace, Whirlwind!

**_Meet Ace, Whirlwind!_**

* * *

Whirlwind felt her wings unfurl after a long night frozen on Earth. She spread her wings far and smiled. Eon's spirit greeted her, along with the rest of the Skylanders.

Today was a bit different. Instead of sitting alone in a corner, Cynder was the center of attention for all the Undead Skylanders. Eye-Brawl was play-fighting with her, and Chop Chop, Ghost Roaster, Fright Rider, and Hex were watching in awe as Cynder made easy work of Eye-Brawl.

Hex was watching her exceptionally closely. Hex, having had a run-in with Malefor herself, wasn't as disliked as Cynder, but certainly not well-liked either. But if you wanted to make a comment, make sure Rider wasn't around...

Sonic Boom, sitting next to Jet-Vac, was trying to teach one of her young ones how to roar like she could. Storm and Mayflower were getting it, but Lionheart and Godspeed weren't.

Polarity, Whirlwind's white-feathered sister, walked up to her. She grinned devilishly and pointed towards Drobot and Sunburn, who were racing each other. "Sunburn totally just told Drobot something you've just gotta hear, sis, come on!"

Whirlwind rolled her eyes. If there was a such thing as goddess of gossip, Polarity was it. She followed her sister to the edge of Eon's Citadel, where they both took off into the air. They flew around, gossiping about the other Skylanders.

Suddenly, Polarity winced and lost her balance, teetering dangerously. Whirlwind held her sister still until Polarity regained her balance. "Geez, Polarity, can you fly?" Whirlwind laughed.

The white unicorn-dragon hybrid shook her head. "No, Whirlwind... something shot at me..." She dipped her head and suddenly began to drop right out of the sky. Whirlwind flapped her wings hard and caught her sister, landing on a nearby Skyland.

"Hahaha... Foolish Skylanders. You creatures are quite petty, actually."

Whirlwind and Polarity backed up against each other, looking around. "Who's there?" Polarity demanded, her voice switching from light and gossipy to dark and concentrated.

"And I should show you two why? The clouds are nice camouflage, aren't they?"

"Show yourself, you coward!" Whirlwind screeched, flaring her wings.

"Fine, you two win."

A dragon with purplish-blue scales appeared. Its muzzle, feet, tail, and wings were a sky-blue, and its horns were a deep magenta color. Its green eyes locked onto them. "Everyone always said you two were the best air dragons of Skylands. It's time we taught you different!" He snarled, opening his wings to reveal bat-like wings that extended and easy fifteen feet.

"We?" Polarity gulped and looked behind the small dragon, and both sisters gaped at what they saw next.

This dragon was huge, the size of Cynder when she was evil. He had huge, feathered wings that spread an easy twenty or twenty-five feet. Its tail was long and looked like a huge spring. Its eyes were dark crimson.

"Hi there, Whirlwind," the dragon greeted her in a friendly tone.

Whirlwind suddenly became furious. "You let us go right now, Ace! And what happened to you...?"

"You see, after you refused my affections every time you could, I met Deu Sol," he began. "Deu Sol is a powerful dark dragon, Stormee. Deu Sol has promised us all part of his glory once we allow him to take over Dragon's Peak. But that means taking out all you imbecile Skylanders first!"

Ace beat his wings against the air, causing tornadoes to sprout. Whirlwind hated being called by her old name, Stormee. She wove her way through the tornadoes, and dove at Ace, landing on his back. She dug her claws into him and flipped him over. They ended up glaring at each other. The smaller dragon was attacking Polarity, easily using its power of thunder and storms to knock her around.

Ace whacked Whirlwind on the head with his tail, throwing her against a tree. Whirlwind staggered to her feet. She remembered Ace well... He had been one of her best friends when they were only dragonets. But after she had left and gone to the tempest clouds, he had gone crazy. Mad, they say, because he was constantly overshadowed by her.

And here he was now, using his new and improved self to beat her around like she was nothing.

"Thor, get Polarity over here!" Ace suddenly snarled at the smaller air dragon. It grinned deviously and lunged at Polarity, sinking its fangs into the back of her neck and dragging her painfully towards Ace. Thor let Polarity go, and Ace held her down with his tail. The end of it, which was a pointed metal spear, was pointed straight at Polarity's throat.

"Now, Whirlwind, we can do this the hard way, or we can do this the easy way," Ace grinned darkly, licking his lips.

"Y-you're deranged! Mad! Crazy!" Whirlwind exclaimed, backing up against the rock she was on. Secretly, she began waving her tail around, and the clouds beneath the island they were on began to form into words... Whirlwind hoped she had managed to spell out "help" legibly in the clouds.. With a last flick of her tail, she sent the clouds flying towards Eon's Citadel.

"Whirlwind, listen, you need to get Ace away from here! He wants to attack the Skylanders, we can't put anyone else in danger!" Polarity called out to her sister. She smiled a watery smile. "It's okay, Whirlwind. If it means losing me, then so be it."

"Polarity, that's not even funny," Whirlwind shot at her sister. Whirlwind was not going to move a muscle until more of the Skylanders got there.

"Whirlwind, you can't do that! If we lose Spyro, or a giant, then it's all over! We can't allow that, listen!" Polarity roared. "Don't you understand?!"

"Not going to happen, Polarity!" Whirlwind snapped.

"Skylanders, to battle!"

Spyro's call echoed throughout the air. All the Skylanders with the ability to fly began to drop Skylanders next to the dragons, mostly consisting of air and fire Skylanders. Swarm, Sonic Boom, and Jet-Vac dove at Ace, and immediately bombarded him with attacks. Thor was surrounded by Flameslinger, Ignitor, Hot Dog, Molta, Hot Head, and Sunburn.

"Now, tiny dr-r-ragon, we can do this the easy way, or we can do this the hard way," Flameslinger mocked Ace, the rest of the fire Skylanders laughing.

But Whirlwind had fear pulsing throughout her. None of the others knew that Ace had Polarity's life in his claws! But soon enough, she knew her sister's fate...

"STOP FIGHTING!" Spyro bellowed. Fights stopped everywhere, and Ace roared, releasing a beam of air in a complete three-sixty around himself. He whipped back his tail and aimed it at Polarity. Spyro's look of horror only mirrored Whirlwind's. "No, don't do it—please, there's no reason!"

"There's enough reason for me! Let this be a message to all of you miserable Skylanders, of what Deu Sol wants done to all of you!" He drove the spear at the end of his tail into Polarity. He pulled it out and waved it in front of his face. Lightning struck behind him in the distance, casting a moment's light on the blood that coated the end of his tail. "Now, I think I've gotten my point across, Spyro. You and you're miserable Skylanders will ALL end up like Polarity! We're out for blood, this time. This is not a miserable battle to decide the leader of Skylands. Thor, let's go! We're done here!"

The tiny air dragon grinned and jumped off the island, following his leader.

Whirlwind felt as though an empty hole had been opened in her chest. She stared at the spot where Ace had stood. Rain began to pour down on them. Spyro and all the other Skylanders there dipped their heads.

Whirlwind walked up to Spyro. "She was right... I could have saved us all... but I didn't..." Whirlwind looked down at her feet and let the tears roll.

Spyro and Cynder exchanged confused glances. "Whirlwind, what does that mean?"

"She told me to take out Ace before he had a chance to hurt anyone else... Now he has all the chance in the world!" Whirlwind wailed.

Drobot came to her side and took off his suit, leaning against her. "Spyro, what are we going to do?" He asked.

Spyro shook his head. "I don't know."

* * *

**Whirlwind's sister, Polarity, is based on the Polar Whirlwind Variant. All the counterparts (excluding Dark Spyro) appear as brothers/sisters of their original selves (Molten Hot Dog is Molta, Scarlet Ninjini is Scarlett, Polar Whirlwind is Polarity, Punch Pop Fizz is Red Fizz, etc.).**

**Next one is "Jet-Vac's Homeland". Listen to what the enemy says carefully.**


	5. Jet-Vac's Homeland

_**Jet-Vac's Homeland**_

* * *

Jet-Vac uncurled his jet-pack's cords to find himself standing on the Ruins' soil. He looked around. Spyro was sitting beside the Core of Light, staring at the Twin Spouts of Ocea-Major-Minor. Sonic Boom was lying down with her quadruplets play-fighting close by. Drill Sergeant and Drobot were showing off their laser blasts to one another. Tree Rex, Crusher, and Bouncer were arguing over something that Jet-Vac was sure he didn't know about, and was probably more than ten thousand years old.

But what bothered him was that Whirlwind was nowhere to be seen. Sighing, he made his way towards Warnado, who was having a chat with Dino-Rang.

The dinosaur saw Jet-Vac and immediately called him over. "'Oi, mate, come on ovah! You're gonna miss all the fun!" He called.

"Yeah! Ninjini's over here givin' Cynder some of what she deserves, haha," Warnado gestured behind him in some trees.

Dino-Rang looked a tad worried but didn't look worried enough to stop what was going on. "Warnado, do ya think we should stop 'er? I mean, what if Spyro finds us just watchin'?"

Warnado looked back at Spyro, who was still staring at the Twin Spouts. "Dino, Spyro hasn't looked away from those Spouts since he got here this morning."

"What are you two featherbrains doing?" Jet-Vac looked into the bushes. Ninjini was staring at Cynder intently.

"Come on Cynder, just once more? I thought you liked training matches," Ninjini winked at her dangerously.

Jet-Vac felt a groan begin to form in the back of his throat. "Do you two have haggis for brains?" He exclaimed, shaking them both. "Ninjini! Whatever it is you're doin', knock it off!" Jet-Vac called down to the Magic Giant.

She turned to him with a look of disgust. "Mind your own business!"

"What is he talking about?" Cynder growled and flared her wings, glaring at Ninjini. "What were you going to do?"

"I was going to play a prank by having my Bottle Magic put the Brand of the Undead temporarily on your wings," Ninjini glowered at Jet-Vac. "But that haggis-loving eagle ruined it!"

"You were gonna what?" Cynder lowered her head and unsheathed fangs. "Do I look like a canvas to you? And in case you haven't noticed, I don't need another Brand of the Undead thanks to idiots like yourself!" She beat her wings and flew away, landing next to Jet-Vac.

Jet-Vac didn't exactly feel comfortable around her, but knew she was as good a Skylander as any of them. She looked at him. "Thanks, Jet-Vac."

"No p-problem, Cynder," he said, bowing to hide his stutter. She sighed and moved away, heading towards Ghost Roaster and Chop Chop, who were having a duelling match.

Jet-Vac glared at Warnado and Dino-Rang. "That's your idea of a good time? Watchin' Cynder get humiliated? Honestly, you're Skylanders!"

"What? We wasn't gonna let her get hurt or nothin'," Dino-Rang furrowed his brows.

"It wasn't funny!" Jet-Vac shot at the accented dinosaur.  
"Alright, Jet-Vac, geez," Warnado said. "We're sorry, and who's that?"

"Who's what?" Jet-Vac turned around and felt like shrivelling into a pile of ash. If only he were Sunburn, he'd be able to do just that. But he wasn't Sunburn, he was Jet-Vac, the wingless Sky Baron of Windham...

It was Airgle. His ridiculous brother. And very cocky brother. He had golden feathers with blue highlights rather than regular white and silver feathers, and, just to add to his gracefulness, he had huge wings that he could use to fly.

Suddenly, Jet-Vac was snapped out of his jealous thoughts as Spyro suddenly broke free of his trance. He stalked over to Airgle. "Who are you and what are you doing here?" He demanded to know, flaring his wings dangerously, his fire shield activating as he began charging up a fireball.

"I'm a friend, Spyro, friend! Friend of Jet-Vac's-hey, Jet-Vac!" Airgle nervously waved at his brother, obviously terrified Spyro might try to blast him off the edge of Eon's Citadel.

Spyro deactivated his fire shield and stopped charging the fireball. He turned around and called Jet-Vac over. Jet-Vac grudgingly moved towards him. "Yes, Spyro ole' boy?"

"Who is that?" He flicked his tail towards Airgle.

"That'd be Airgle..." My airhead of a brother. Too bad his head's also as big as a balloon, Jet-Vac yearned to say the last part of the sentence aloud, but decided against it. Jet-Vac was worried about Spyro; since the escapade with Polarity and Ace, he had sat by the Core of Light, watching the Twin Spouts or the flowers that danced at the Core of Light's side.

And now, here he was , staring at Jet-Vac with eyes that looked most unlike his usual friendly, confident gaze. He almost looked... haunted.

"Well, tell him to stop flying alone! I don't want a repeat," Spyro growled, folding his wings back against his side. He laid down by the Core of Light. Cynder was tearing up grass with her claws a few feet away.

Jet-Vac marched towards his brother. "Will you stop showin' off?" Jet-Vac rolled his eyes as his brother pressed his rather large golden wings to his side.

"Jet-Vac!" Airgle exclaimed, grinning goofily. "You do know what today is, don't ya? Don't tell me you forgot!"

Jet-Vac furrowed his brows. "Actually, I did. What's today?"

"It's mum's birthday! Oh, and Delia, you know, that mother you saved? She'll be there too! Everybody wants to see ya," Airgle said, still keeping that goofy smile on his face. He looked around at the other Skylanders. "So, these are the other Skylanders?"

Eon came floating over. "Airgle, I'm not sure whether Jet-Vac will wish to come or not. We have had rather... unhappy days, lately."

"You can say that again."

Jet-Vac watched as Whirlwind burst into Eon's Citadel. Looked like she had finally managed to get to Skylands from Earth.

She turned around and walked over to Spyro. "So, this is all you're going to do? Sit and watch the Core of Light? It's not going to tell you anything, you know."

Spyro blinked at her. "I know that. But what else am I supposed to do?" He blinked long and hard. "You don't understand just how hard it is to be leader, do you?"

"I understand this," Whirlwind growled, "we're sitting around doing nothing!"

Jet-Vac sighed. "Come on, Airgle. Let's go. I'd rather not stick around for another spat."

"Tally ho!" Airgle opened his majestic wings and flew off into the sky, Jet-Vac following him. Jet-Vac was a nervous wreck. He remembered how Polarity had turned out the last time she flew with only one other person...

Airgle was doing flips, dives, and barrel rolls through the air. "Come on, Jet-Vac! know you can do some tricks with that doohicky on your back!"

"It's called a jetpack, genius!" Jet-Vac called after him. Jet-Vac smirked and decided to show him how a barrel roll was really done! Jet-Vac put his Vac-Blaster behind him and pulled the trigger. The blast of air sent him shooting forward. He put his hands outward, and he began to barrel roll.

He was going so fast, he couldn't see what exactly was going on. The pressure of the wind pressing against his face was blurring his vision and stinging his eyes.

"Jet-Vac, we're here! You can stop now and-wow, that is an amazing barrel roll!" Airgle called after him.

"Thank you," Jet-Vac grinned as he finally came to a stop. He was hovering over the familiar Skyland Windham. The long, grassy fields, sophisticated, yet older looking buildings, the beautiful Windham Lake... He was home!

Jet-Vac landed, Airgle coming to stop next to him. "Mum! We're here!" Airgle called out.

"Jet-Vac?Airgle?" A female Sky Baron, their mother, came out. Female Sky Barons, especially mothers, often did not have wings. Jet-Vac ran up to her.

"Mum! It's been so long! What's been going on?" Jet-Vac smiled at her.

"Nothing much," she said, also smiling. "Come on, let's get to the house. The others should be arriving soon."

Jet-Vac nodded. He followed her and Airgle back to the house. Jet-Vac took in Windham. The buildings were generally large and tall, giving any newcomer the impression they were castles, even if they were just houses. The grass was lush and green, and there were pine trees everywhere. The Windham Lake was on the other side of the island.

Jet-Vac's old home was just like the others, large, wide, tall, made from pure stone. Inside, he was surprised to find nearly everyone he knew there.

But he was very happy to find Delia. The female Sky Baron he had sacrificed his wings to. Long ago, when Jet-Vac was only just beginning to get into the advanced stages of his flying ace training, evil drow raided their land. During the attack, Delia and her two young had been caught in a corner in their house. Delia was trying to protect her young, of which the drow wanted to help them learn how to use some Windham technology, and Jet-Vac had sacrificed his wings to her so she could fly them to safety. But then, he had had to fight with the goliath drow himself.

Though he was injured, he was fixed up and turned into a legend. He was also recruited by Eon as a Skylander quite soon after.

Jet-Vac was torn from his thoughts as Delia's two kids, now teenagers, Victor and Shiner, ran towards him. Victor had dark, slate-colored feathers with black edges. His sister, Shiner, was pale silver with white highlights at the edges of her feathers. Victor began to scan Jet-Vac's jetpack.

"It's so shiny! Hehe, hey Shiner, can you shine like Jet-Vac's jetpack?" Victor teased his sister. She rolled her eyes.

Jet-Vac ruffled the feathers on their heads and looked around. It was his mother's birthday, but they were all staring at him. He felt a little hot under the feathers. He took a seat a bit farther away, looking at everyone. His mother was talking with Delia herself, and Jet-Vac was thrilled to see both sets of his grandparents. What he wasn't thrilled to see was how frail they looked; their feathers were silver-gray and they weren't moving around a whole lot.

His eyes fell on Abigail, a family friend of theirs, and he forgot everyone else was there. She had pure white feathers with rare, blue-gray highlights. She made her way across the room, placing a covered bowl of some food on the table. The room was huge, and the table took up most of the room, and all the chairs didn't help make space, but Jet-Vac was sure it wasn't crowded enough for the room to suddenly become so hot...

"Hi, Jet-Vac," she stopped in front of him. Unlike other female Sky Barons, she had wings. And she could use them. "You want to go race? I want to see if you're still the 'best, most daring flying ace' in all of Windham," she winked at him.

"U-uh, y-yeah, sure," he stuttered, feeling like an idiot. Besides, he felt like this every time he got around Abby or Sonic Boom. "And what do ya mean Windham? I'm the best in all of Skylands!" He said, happy for an excuse for his senseless stuttering. He followed her outside.

"Alright, once around the island. We meet right back here," she said, pointing to the doormat in front of Jet-Vac's home.

"Right," he nodded. "Ready..."

"Set..." Abby looked determinedly forward.

"Go!" Jet-Vac burst on his jetpack, pointing his Vac-Blaster straight backwards. He shot forward like a bullet. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Abby gaining on him. Her wings, though large, were light, and she was pretty fast herself.

They rounded the Windham Lake, and the Windham Forest. Jet-Vac breathed heavily as he landed on the doornat. He felt as though his lungs were on fire. "Awesome! Looks like I'm still the best, eh, Abby? Abby?" He looked around. Where was she? "Must have left her so far in the dust it's takin' her a second," Jet-Vac laughed to himself. But he knew something was wrong. Abby, even if she did just have wings, was fast; she wouldn't have been so far behind.

"Abby?" Jet-Vac flew up into the air and looked around. "ABBY!"

"Jet-Vac!"

He heard her call come from the Windham Lake. He pressed on his Vac-Blaster and went rocketing towards the lake. He landed next to it and found her splayed out on the ground. "Abby?" He moved towards her. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine... man, what a doozy, something smacked me right out of the sky," she groaned as she got up.

Jet-Vac had a moment of panic. What if it was Ace? He looked around carefully. "Abby, ya might wanna be careful. I don't know why he's doin' this to us, but there's this dragon-his name's Ace-and he's not very nice, to say the very least," Jet-Vac muttered.

"Aw, Jet-Vac, it's not nice to tell stories," the familiar laugh echoed around him. Jet-Vac shoved Abby behind him and glared at her, "You are not to move from this spot, do you understand?" He said sternly.

She looked thunderstruck by his sudden tone of voice, and, by the fact that he was ordering her around. "In case you haven't noticed, Mr. Skylander, I am perfectly capable of-!"

"Of what?" Jet-Vac cut her off. "Gettin' killed? Trust me, Ace isn't to be toyed with."

"No kidding!"

Jet-Vac blinked in astonishment as Spyro and the rest of the Skylanders came marching out from the Windham Forest. Jet-Vac just gaped at them stupidly. "How did you all get here?"

"Do I look stupid to you?" Spyro snapped. "Your one of the most famous flying aces in all of Skylands, Jet-Vac. Ace would know that too. I had a hunch that he knew just where you would be today and that he'd attempt to get you. Plus, I... I was worried."

Double Trouble came to the front of the group. He pointed his staff at Ace and narrowed his eyes to slits. "Ooga booga boo, oocha mooga..."

"What on Skylands was that supposed to mean?" Ace snorted scornfully.

"It means, 'watch out you're about to be dead meat'!" Whirlwind roared, diving at Ace's back. She landed on his back and sunk her claws into his back, gripping the back of his neck with her teeth.

Ace shook himself wildly. "Get off, pest!" He snarled. "Thor!"

The smaller air dragon erupted from the lake. He charged at Jet-Vac and Abigail. Jet-Vac pulled out his Vac-Blaster and began firing air blasts at the smaller dragon. But it was unfazed; it sat still and merely sucked in the air that Jet-Vac blasted at it.

"For once I wish I didn't just control the lousy air!" Jet-Vac said. He grabbed Abby, and used his jetpack to get to the other Skylanders. He landed in their midst.

He dropped Abby. "Stay here, okay?" He told her.

"No need to tell me twice," she said in a small voice.

Jet-Vac bolted at the speed of light towards Ace. He landed in front of the huge dragon. They couldn't fight him head on; he was too big for that. But Spyro, Whirlwind, and the other Skylanders must have been seeing red, because they charged straight in. Jet-Vac felt like screaming at them. Did they all want to end up like Polarity?!

He bit Ace's front left paw, and then rushed away. Just as he had hoped the lumbering air dragon snarled and chased after him. Jet-Vac went westward. There was a cliff there. If they managed to throw him off the side of the cliff...

But Ace stopped chasing him and began to viciously attack Spyro. Jet-Vac then understood: Spyro was Ace's target! He thought fast. He needed others to help him get Ace's attention. "Camo, Warnado, Dino-Rang!" He called.

The Life Dragon growled and came running, Warnado and Dino-Rang not far behind. "Listen," Jet-Vac began, "we have to get Ace's attention. There's a canyon farther west. If we can lead him that way, we can knock him down, then, we'll just need somebody to knock him off balance. Drobot!"

The rusty red dragon came running, though he was still trying to carefully lock onto Ace.

"Listen, Drobot, we're gonna lure Ace to a canyon farther ahead. Once we knock him in, you're gonna have to knock him off balance," Jet-Vac told him. "Can you do it?"

"Of course!" Drobot responded in his booming voice. "Now to get that overgrown iguana's attention!"

He began firing lasers at Ace's chest. Ace, genuinely surprised, beat his wings and flew upward. He then saw Drobot and landed, chasing after him.

"We can't let him get off the ground, Drobot!" Jet-Vac told him. "If he goes to fly, you get in the air and shoot him down, got it?!"

"Affirmative!" Drobot nodded.

"Come on, ya dumb ole' dragon!" Jet-Vac shouted, firing air blasts at Ace. Ace bellowed, and swiped his tail in a complete three-sixty around himself, swatting away any Skylanders within a fifteen foot radius.

"Almost there, mates! Come on, chase us!" Dino-Rang taunted, firing two boomerangs. Jet-Vac squawked to let them know to stop. Ace, being so large, was not able to stop in time. He fell straight over the edge of the canyon.

However, he began flapping his monstrous wings and just as he was about to get his balance back, Drobot began firing lasers at his wings. Ace's wings began to have holes and he looked genuinely afraid. But then, he hit the ground.

Injured, Ace staggered to his feet and looked up. "Mark my words! This is not the last you will see of us! There are seven more! Geo, Bio, Corpse, Pyro, Agua, Ala, and Techna! They will all take care of you miserable creatures!" A sadistic smile crept over his face. "Just like I took care of Polarity. And, if you somehow (even though I know you won't) manage to beat all eight of them, you'll never, ever take down Deu Sol!"

Ace, however, had not yet realized that he had no means of escaping. He was trapped. With his wings torn apart and with almost certainly many broken bones, it was unlikely he was going anywhere for a while.

"We'll see you when you manage to crawl out of your hole!" Spyro mocked. "Yes! I knew we could do it!"

Jet-Vac saw the old fire light in Spyro's eyes again. He was going to be better now, Jet-Vac was sure.

"Jet-Vac?" Abby walked up to him, feathers gleaming in the sunshine. "Here." She pulled out some gear from her backpack. "It's a mask and vest. It'll help you when you're flying fast. You'll be able to see because the wind won't be forcing your eyes shut."

The mask was a translucent, greenish color. He smiled. "Thanks, Abby." He put it on. He felt better already! The mask was pretty aerodynamic too, so it wouldn't cause him to be slower.

"Alright, everyone, how about we go celebrate Jet-Vac's mom's birthday?" Spyro asked. He was greeted with a "Yes!" spoken by everyone in unison.

* * *

**No, not all of them will be that short (if they were... wow, this would end pretty quickly xD) but there's the end of that. Ace is considered a joke compared to the others that will be introduced.**

**Funfact: Airgle was going to be Jet-Vac's name at one point, but it was changed to Vac-Eagle, and then Jet-Vac.**


	6. For Riley!

**_For Riley!_**

* * *

Zap spat out sea-slime in front of him, and rode on it. He began ricocheting around the Core of Light, going a little too close to Hot Dog. The red mutt was so fun to annoy.

Today was quite a happy day. All around Eon's Citadel, Skylanders were bouncing around, talking excitedly to one another about the occurrences of yesterday, the day Ace had been defeated. Zap slid in front of Cynder and stopped.

She tensed and curled her lip, as though ready to fire lightning at him already. Zap rolled his eyes. Drama queen._ Geez, we may not all like her, but there's no reason to kill the eel before it's awake._

"So, Cynder, wanna have a race?" He asked her. "Nobody else will race with me."

"Gee, I wonder why," she said sarcastically. Zap knew he was the fastest Skylander there. He outstripped any opponent he ever faced. "But... I guess. No reason not to," she said.

She spread her wings and bent her legs, ready to take off. Zap spat out some more sea-slime and got ready to race on it. "Ready, set... go!"

Cynder bolted off into the air, flapping her wings furiously. Zap was easily just sliding around the Core of Light. He reached the other side quicker than Cynder easily.

"Yes, victory!" Zap exclaimed. His electrical tanks, filled to the brim, shocked him and set all of his sea-slime into a dancing, electric nightmare. "Oops... Cynder, don't-!"

Too late. Cynder landed and was shocked repeatedly until she managed to get out of the sea-slime. She coughed and spluttered and then turned to glare at him. "Of all the ridicule I take every day-why you?!" She demanded. "Oh, let me guess, I destroyed the Dragon Realms, and I need to be punished, even though I am punished every single day!" She snarled. She turned and flew off into the air, leaving Eon's Citadel.

Zap watched her go. He hadn't meant to hurt her. But she was so insecure nowadays, she never gave anybody a chance to explain anything. Zap, having captured Thor from their battle with Ace, was already irritable enough; he didn't want to explain to Spyro that Cynder had just flown off by herself in the middle of the day, when the Jet Winds were about to kick up...

But Spyro came out from his den, practically dragging Thor alongside him. Ace's original minion growled and beat his wings against the chains that Spyro had weighed him down with. Eon came floating out from the sky.

"Spyro, what are you going to do with him?" Eon asked.

"Like we need another evil dragon around here," Ninjini said pointedly, rolling her eyes.

Spyro glared at her through the corners of his eyes, but said nothing. He turned to Eon, allowing Thor to struggle in vain with his chains. "Eon, I wanted to interrogate him to see what was going on."

"Right. So, how do we start?" Eon asked.

Spyro looked around. "Cynder?" He called. "Cynder!"

"Don't bother," Zap sighed and scuffed the dirt with his feet. "She... she ran off after I accidentally shocked her."

"How in Skylands do you 'accidentally' shock somebody, Zap?" Spyro asked him pointedly.

"We were racing. My tanks zapped me and I shot a bolt of electricity out of reflex," he answered. "She went to land and was shocked."

"Oh..." Spyro sighed. "I hope she gets back soon... Camo!" Spyro called the leaf dragon. Camo came out of the crowd. The way he walked gave him an almost serpentine gait. He got in front of Thor and bared his fangs menacingly.

Spyro smiled. "Now, Thor, you can tell us what's going on in Dragon's Peak, or Camo will feed you to the venus fly traps he has in his garden," Zap was almost amazed by the way Spyro was talking to Thor. It was so not like him! "You're choice."

"I... I..." Thor looked around, as though pleading for somebody to tell him what to say.

"We're waiting," Camo snarled.

"Alright, alright, alright! I'll tell you what I know!" Thor cowered beneath him, covering his head with his wings. The chains that were wrapped around his legs and the base of his wings were rubbing him raw, and Zap was furthermore dumbfounded by the cruelty Spyro was treating him with.

"So, Thor, what do you know?" Spyro asked.

"Deu Sol has taken over Dragon's Peak," he answered. "I swear, that's all I was told! Ace doesn't trust me with any other information, and Deu Sol wouldn't talk to a minion directly! Nobody tells me anything!"

"Should we believe him, Eon?" Spyro turned to the elderly Portal Master.

"Spyro, enough is enough; we know what he did to Polarity, but treating another living being with this much cruelty is not how we work. We're better than our enemies, Spyro," Eon chided the purple dragon. Zap sighed with relief. He wasn't sure how much longer he could have taken seeing Thor being treated like that.

Eon magically undid Thor's chains. "There. However, Thor, if you try to escape, you will be bound by chains and brackets again," Eon told him sternly. "We want to make peace with you... not harm you."

"Friends with him?! Are you mad?" Whirlwind came prowling from out of the crowd. He feathers were sticking straight out. She angrily circled Thor, lashing her tail. "The only place he belongs is the underworld, with all the other rotten scum!"

"Whirlwind!" Eon said breathlessly. "How dark-natured of you!"

Zap backed away, ending up next to Chill.

"So, t'e air dragon is t'e one who killed Polarity?" Chill asked.

"No," Zap responded. "Not him. It was the big one, Ace, according to Whirlwind."

"No, she's right," Thor shook his head. "What I've helped Ace do is horrible... but, he was such a good friend when he was younger... until you came along!" Thor turned and glared at Whirlwind, lashing his tail and baring his fangs.

"ME? I'm the evil one?" She shrieked. "The pure audacity of you!" She exploded with anger. "You helped him kill my sister! Is that really reasonable for me just happening to dump him? Heck, Sonic Boom turns down Jet-Vac practically every day, but you don't see him running after her with a chainsaw, do you?!" She snarled. "Well?"

"No...?" Thor had a confused look on his face. "That's what happened? Ace said-"

"I don't give a unicorn's tail-hair what Ace said! Keep it to yourself, along with your filthy, disgusting claws!" She turned and stormed off into the crowd. Instantly, the Skylanders created a path for her to walk through.

Thor glared after her. "I swear, Ace said that she... tried to hurt him. And that on top of it she dumped him. Said that she almost killed him!" Thor exclaimed. "I don't know what to think..."

"Not like it's any different from before! You never think before you do anything!" Whirlwind boomed from the back of the crowd, obviously still quite outraged.

"Spyro, take him away," Eon told the purple dragon.

Spyro nodded and led Thor to a secluded spot near the brambles. Zap, along with the others, turned their heads to look. Thor laid down in between some of the brambles and curled up into a tight ball. Spyro curled his lips and spoke.

"If you ever, ever do what Ace did to Polarity to any of the Skylanders present, you will be executed, painfully. I do not take kindly to those who attack and even kill my friends. Do you understand?"

"Yes sir," Thor dipped his head respectfully.

"And don't you dare fly off, because if you do, we'll know," he turned and looked at Ninjini. "Ninjini! Can you cast a spell over this place, like an alarm?"

She nodded. "Of course I can. Spectro Auskiatra!" Ninjini yelled. Immediately, a dark violet forcefield formed itself around the brambles. Thor looked at it apprehensively, but shrugged and put his head on his front paws, looking as though he were trying to fall asleep.

"Land ho!"

"Flynn?" Zap turned and saw Flynn land the Dread-Yacht, though rather ungraciously. He, Cali, and Hugo stumbled off the large ship looking dazed.

"Well, it's nice to see you all drop by for a visit!" Eon exclaimed happily. "Hello!"

"Am I the only one who's still creeped out that he's a giant floating head?" Cali asked nobody in particular.

"Oh, and two of you need to come or something, because we found somebody," Flynn said. "Some water dragon is trapped on this island about to be mangled by this other dragon, and it doesn't look pretty..."

"What water dragon?" Zap poked his head forward.

"Dunno. It has pretty short horns, so Hugo over here keeps telling me it's a female but who knows," Flynn crossed his arms. "Just another lady..."

Cali elbowed him. "Also a DRAGON lady."

"Hey, don't knock it till you try it," Flynn laughed nervously. "Anywhos, Spyro, who's coming along?"

"Zap, you and Chill go," Spyro said. He looked deep in thought, as though he didn't know what to say. Zap could almost feel his intense sense of urgency.

Zap nodded. "Okay." He hopped towards Flynn, and then climbed carefully up onto his ship. Chill followed. She took a seat on a crate on the ship and looked over at Zap. "So, why did you want to know what water dragon it was?"

"Because it could be one of my family," Zap said. He looked up. "It'd be nice to finally see my mom or dad again..."

"Right," Chill looked away abruptly and began fiddling with her ice javelin. Zap put his head on his front legs, staring at the floor. If it was one of his parents... he had no idea how he'd react. He hadn't seen them since he was a dragonet.

"It's not too far away, so don't get too comfortable," Flynn told them. "Boom!" He misguided the ship straight into Persephone's old hut, caving in some of the roof.

"Hey!" Persephone came shooting out of her cabin on the Dread-Yacht. "What on ever is wrong with you?" She demanded to Flynn.

"That takes years of skill and practice, my friend!" Flynn called back. "No need to tell me how amazing I am."

"Ugh, that man is not good like other men. He has a head too big for his own body," she huffed, zooming back into her cabin.

"That's true, though," Zap said to Chill. He laughed after saying it.

"Yeah, Flynn has a head to big for his own body," Chill laughed, repeating Persephone's words.

"We're here!" Flynn called about ten minutes later.

Zap looked over the starboard of the boat, and saw a huge golden-tan dragon growling and circling a smaller water dragon. She looked almost exactly like him! Except, she had smaller horns and looked... bloody? Zap gritted his teeth and fired three rounds of electricity at the large tan dragon.

It turned and snarled at him, shooting sand from its mouth at them. "Whoa!" Flynn barely managed to dodge the sandball.

Zap didn't believe what he saw next. Cynder dove out of the clouds and landed on the sand dragon's back, rearing back her head and shooting electricity. It bellowed angrily and shook itself, throwing her off. Cynder jumped in front of the water dragon, glaring at the sand dragon with as much hatred that was usually reserved for Kaos. "Back off Sandman or I'll turn you into a beach!" She snarled.

"Oh please, my grandmother can come up with a better line than that!" The water dragon said.

"You got a better one?" Cynder asked before throwing the water dragon out of the sand dragon's line of fire. It stood over them, and Zap was able to get a good look at it. Its entire body was made of nothing BUT sand! But it did have other defining characteristics. It had sand shaped like horns on the top of its head, and its eyes were golden yellow, despite still being made out of sand. The end of its tail had a stone carved into the shape of a spear.

"What are ya goin' to do now, huh?" The sand dragon taunted Cynder, stalking towards her. She was pushed up against the edge of the island. "Nowehere for ya to run."

"Wrong!" Cynder spat. "Because I don't need to run!" She charged forward and used her Shadow Dash, going straight through him and leaving her transparent yellow ghosts behind her. Phantasmal, her Ghost Ally, began viciously assaulting the sand dragon.

"Hey-Get off!" He kicked and shot sand at the ghosts, but to no avail.

"Go down and get them!" Zap exclaimed. "Don't just stand there!"

"Going down!" Flynn went in low. The ship, level with the island, rocked a bit; the Jet Winds were kicking up. "Come on, in the boat!" Flynn called to Cynder and the water dragon.

Cynder hissed at the oversized sand dragon, and turned around, grabbing the water dragon with her feet and flying into Flynn's boat. Just as she was about to land, the sand dragon roared and blasted her with sand.

Flynn flew the ship away from the island, and, once they were far enough away, the sand began to clear. Cynder was unconscious, her wings and legs wrapped firmly around the water dragon. The water dragon, cushioned from the fall, was conscious, and wriggled free of Cynder's grasp.

"Who was that?" She asked. "That dragon saved my life!"

Zap's head was spinning. Cynder? Save somebody's life? The only person she had ever tried to save before was Spyro! He turned to look at the female water dragon. He gaped stupidly upon recognizing who it was.

"Riley?" He gasped.

Chill rolled her eyes and slammed her ice javelin to the ground, almost like a cane. "Who is t'is, Zap?" She asked.

"Riley!" He exclaimed, shooting sea-slime and sliding in a circle around her. "Wow, it's been a long time Riles!"

"What did I tell you about calling me Riles, Major?" She asked him pointedly.

"Major?" Zap looked at her confusedly. "Who's Major?"

Riley rolled her eyes. "Major's your name, genius. I think I know my brother when I see him."

"My name's Zap...?" Zap cocked his head. "You sure you're feeling okay, Riles?"

"Riley! And I'm feeling fine, I think it's you," she shook herself, spraying sand into the air. Most of it went into Chill's face. She sputtered and picked up her ice javelin, throwing it at the window on Hugo's cabin. She marched over towards Cali and sat down with a huff. "When you got washed out to sea, you were young, Major. You were hardly old enough to know how to swim!"

"And, to catch you up, I was raised by electric eels," he grinned at her and then reared back his head, firing off rounds of electricity upwards. "That's the power of electricity, baby!"

He spat out sea-slime and began to rocket around the ship, coming to a stop in front of Riley. "And, as you can see, I'm faster than you'll ever be," he grinned cheekily.

"Oh, please," Riley rolled her eyes. She spat out sea-slime and slid up the railings of the staircase that led to the steering wheel, before turning and rocketing over the stern, and then coming to a stop in front of Zap. "How's that for fast?"

"Slow," Zap laughed. "I could do that faster in my sleep!"

"Hey! Can it, you two!" Hugo finally snapped. "We can save the catching up for later, Cynder's hurt."

"She was great!" Riley exclaimed, running over to the dark dragoness. "She fights like a champ! She had that dirtbag running for his salmon, that's for sure!"

"Well, let's try to wake her up," Zap said. He didn't like that Riley was so quick to accept Cynder. Didn't she know about everything she had done in the past? Sure, Zap didn't hate her or despise her, but that didn't mean he trusted her.

Zap nudged her and used some of his sea-slime to clean her off. She dazedly opened her eyes, and looked around. "Where's the dragon...?" She mumbled.

"Right here!" Riley nudged Cynder awake even further. "That was awesome, what you did back there! I've never seen anybody fight like you did! Not to mention, for a complete stranger!" Riley bounced up and down a little.

Zap bared his teeth slightly. Riley was already getting on his nerves.

Cynder looked between Zap and Riley. "Sorry, but, who are you?" She asked.

"Riley, Major's-er, Zap's-sister," she explained. "You should know, that black lightning thing was so cool! Where I come from, no dragon can control lightning!" Riley grinned widely. "You know, you're pretty cool!"

Cynder blinked furiously, as though she was having trouble believing her eyes or ears. "R-really?"

"Yeah! Black lightning? That's supposed to be, like, the most powerful of all lightning!" Riley continued to obsess over Cynder's lightning abilities. Zap felt like spitting fire rather than lightning. He could control lightning too!

"Hey, Riles, um, I'm your brother and can control lightning," he reminded her.

"Please, Major, the only thing letting you control lightning is that harness," Riley rolled her eyes at him, and returned to Cynder. "But she can make it without anything to help her!"

Zap stalked away from them, up the stairs that led to the stern of the boat. Chill was sitting on a crate, glaring at Riley and Cynder. "Having fun wit' 'Riles'?" She said sarcastically.

"What's your problem?" Zap asked her with a genuinely confused tone.

"Oh, please, do not let me interfere wit' your fun," she grumbled, getting up and stomping over to another crate.

Zap snorted scornfully and watched her go. "Okay, fine, grouch," he turned to watch what was going on.

Flynn was steering the ship back to Eon's Citadel, and Cynder and Riley were yapping away to one another. Hugo was engrossed in some book a few feet away. Cali was talking with Chill.

"So, I've got to ask you, how did you become a Skylander? I mean, it must be an awesome job," Riley asked Cynder, bright-eyed in excitement.

Cynder looked away nervously. "Well, I didn't exactly do anything heroic like Jet-Vac or Flameslinger, but Spyro insisted I became a Skylander because I helped defeat Malefor," she mumbled.

"Wow! Malefor?! He was, like, the most powerful dragon ever!" Riley's eyes were gleaming now. "I've heard you were a minion of his once, but so were thousands of others! Most of them he tricked or corrupted though, it was't really them."

"You mean... you don't hate me for it?" Cynder asked her, blinking disbelievingly again.

"Of course not! My uncle was a minion of his once, and I don't hate him, do I?" Riley snorted. "I mean, if you were brainwashed, why say anything? It wasn't him doing anything wrong, it was Malefor."

Cynder smiled probably for the first time in days. "Yeah, I know! It's so frustrating!"

Zap curled his lips and slid down the staircase. "Cynder is a monster, and she always will be!" He burst. He did not want his sister hanging out with Cynder-at all. Cynder was evil! She had the Brand of the Undead on her forehead, for Pete's sake! "She practically destroyed the Dragon Realms and would have killed Ignitus and Spyro had Spyro not overpowered her!" He snarled.

Cynder backed away, looking like she'd been slapped in the face. She then lowered her head and unsheathed her teeth, flaring her wings. "I just saved your sister's life! The sister of yours you never got to know, and now get to know because I SAVED her!" She lashed her tail. "If you still think I'm evil, then go talk to Spyro about it!" She turned and stalked away, curling up in a tight ball next to Persephone's cabin.

Riley glared at Zap and then shoved him away from her. "She's not the monster," she growled. "You are!" She turned and bounced towards Cynder.

Zap stared at the two dragonesses. "UGH! GIRLS!" He roared, curling up and falling asleep.

Back at Eon's Citadel, Riley and Cynder walked off the boat together. Chill marched ahead of Zap, leaving him alone. He stalked off the ship, and shot dirty looks at Cynder and Riley, who were talking furiously to one another. Spyro looked quite astounded, but made nothing of it. He smiled and walked toward Zap.

"Who's that?" Spyro asked, gesturing towards Riley.

"Riley. My sister. Cynder's best friend," Zap growled, lashing his tail. He turned and stalked away, flopping down in the apple bushes.

Spyro walked over towards Cynder and Riley. "Hello," he said to Riley. "My name is Spyro. Zap says you're Riley. It's nice to meet you," Spyro bowed humbly. Cynder bowed her head back, and so did Riley.

"Zap!" Gill Grunt came waddling over. The gillman sat down and pointed at Riley and Cynder. "Weird, huh? Somebody liking Cynder?"

"Yeah, especially that somebody being my sister," Zap growled.

"Still, Cynder just doesn't seem to belong with the Skylanders. But she sure proved herself worthy of bein' a hero," Gill Grunt sighed. "If it weren't for Cynder, I wouldn't be here today, and neither would Riley. Riley just got done tellin' a bunch of us how Cynder rescued her from a sand dragon. Remember when Kaos turned us all small and banished us to Earth? Durin' the battle, Cynder saved me from gettin' my head cut off by this lynx with an axe!"

"Really?" Zap turned and looked at Gill Grunt, who nodded.

"Yeah. I owe Cynder my life. I just don't know how to act like that while everybody hates her. I mean, I wanna like her, but how can I if everybody else shuns me when I try to be nice to her?" Gill Grunt sighed again. "Thumpback still doesn't want to talk to me, 'cause that one time I went on a mission with Cynder and when I got hurt, let her take over the mission," Gill Grunt explained.

"Now that you mention it," Zap tilted his head in thought. "Cynder has saved a lot of us..."

There was once where Spyro had accidentally provoked a crystal golem, and it was about to crush him, but Cynder dove in and rescued him. There was another time where Sunburn was about to be killed so his feathers could be sold for a lot of money, but Cynder shocked the bounty hunters and helped the dragon-phoenix hybrid escape. Cynder had even saved Zap once, when he had slipped and fallen in Dragon's Peak while they were trying to kick Vathek out!

Zap felt an enormous amount of guilt claw at him. He had been so mean to her... and he hadn't realized how much he, and all of the Skylanders, owed her.

He calmly walked over to Riley and Cynder, who both tensed and glared at him with their eyes narrowed to slits. "What do you want?" Riley growled.

"I'm sorry," Zap dipped his head. "For everything. Cynder, I owe you a lot. So do many others. You deserve better than how I've been treating you lately."

Cynder narrowed her eyes, if possible, even further. "How do I know this isn't a trick?" She demanded.

Riley rolled her eyes. "It's not a trick. My brother's too proud to admit himself wrong like that for just some prank," Riley said, tackling him and giving him a noogie with her tail. He managed to shove her off and reared back, preparing to tackle her back.

"You asked for it, Riles!"

"Riley!" She told him exasperatedly as he jumped on top of her.


	7. Grounds Passed

_**Grounds Passed**_

* * *

Bash woke up on Eon's Citadel feeling quite refreshed. Last night, his Portal Master, Ben, had accidentally left their 'dog' outside, and personally, he was quite happy, as it meant he didn't have the animal trying to eat him or barking all night long.

But it was obvious not everybody was feeling as great as he was. He was greeted almost immediately by yelling between Spyro and Cynder. He was genuinely surprised by this.

"Of course you don't believe me!" She snarled at him. "You never do!"

"Well, I don't believe Shroomboom would do that!" Spyro defended himself hotly. "Honestly! Where do you come up with these things? I'd believe you if it was Ninjini or Sprocket, but-"

"Just shut up!" Cynder hissed, spinning around and stomping away from him. Spyro was left standing in front of the Core of Light, looking as though he'd just been slapped firmly in the face.

Riley comforted Cynder as she returned, eagerly saying she agreed with Cynder and thought Spyro was wrong. Cynder flicked her tail. "Don't lie." She curled up and covered herself with her wings, curling her tail tight against herself. Riley tried to tell Cynder she wasn't lying, but the dark dragoness, tired of it, got up and flared her wings, and lashed her tail threateningly at Riley. "Just shut up!" She repeated angrily.

Bash watched her as she stalked away, into the brambles. She glared at Thor as she flopped onto the ground, her back to the rest of the Skylanders.

Bash made his way over to Dino-Rang, Flashwing, and Jade. "What was all that about?" He asked.

"Cynder claims that Shroomboom put an exploding mushroom in her food last night," Flashwing smirked. "She's so fun to annoy. Me and Jade set it up."

"You mean, he did," Bash sighed. Why was everybody so mean to Cynder? Especially the other females? Jade and Flashwing especially. In fact, they despised her so badly, they often gossipped and caused rumours about her. That was one of the many reasons Bash no longer had a crush on Flashwing, or her green-gem-studded sister, Jade. They had gotten this behavior from Ninjini.

Ninjini, Scarlett, and Tree Rex were speaking to one another, Tree Rex repeatedly shaking his head and Ninjini and Scarlett just groaning in annoyance. Tree Rex was the most level-headed of the Giants, and didn't think Cynder was bad at all. Which was funny, because Ninjini and Scarlett were the ones who could sense negative and positive magic in all entities.

"Well, duh, of course, nobody expects that little mushroom to do anything," Jade said. "He's too dumb-looking to be seen as a mean Skylander."

"Look at her!" Bash swung his huge tail, gesturing towards Cynder. "Does that look like something a Skylander should do to another Skylander?"

"Mate," Dino-Rang flicked his eyes from Cynder to Bash. "Cynder nevah did anythin' to earn the title of Skylandah. She doesn't deserve it. What Spyro sees in her, I'll nevah know. Besides, we didn't hurt her..."

"It's still not our place to judge, he's our leader," Bash growled. "And you did hurt her, look at her!"

"You wanna go over there and talk to her?" Flashwing giggled. "Wonder if she'll slice your head off. You know Spyro said she'd use this Slash attack when he first met her? Of course he also said that when he beat her he felt like he'd seen an angel, but Spyro's insane anyway."

"Ooh! New rumour time," Jade laughed. "How about, Cynder-"

Bash cut Jade off by beating his tail on the ground, leaving a huge, crater-like mark in the ground. "No," he snarled, "it is not 'rumour' time. Cynder doesn't deserve that. How do you think she feels, ridiculed every moment of every day? Now Spyro doesn't even believe her. Who knows what's going through her mind? And Spyro's not insane!"

"Probably something dark and deceptive," Flashwing smirked.

"She's talkin' to Thor!" Dino-Rang exclaimed.

"See?" Flashwing said, turning to look at Cynder. She was indeed talking to Thor, but it didn't look like a happy conversation. Thor looked terrified, huddled against one of the brambles, while Cynder had her wings flared and tail lashing.

Jade and Flashwing grinned at each other and walked towards Ninjini and Scarlett. The two genies leaned down, and Jade told them something. The two giants shot Cynder and Thor a smirk that just screamed evil.

Bash felt ready to whack puppies with his tail he was so angry. Stomping away, he made his way towards Riley, who was watching Cynder with watery eyes. He sat down next to her and took to staring at Cynder. She lashed her tail out at Thor, this time, the blade at the end of her tail met his scales, slicing a clean cut on his left shoulder. Before anybody could react, she turned around and rocketed off into the sky.

Riley watched her go. She sighed. "If it weren't for Cynder, I wouldn't even be here. Why is everybody so judgemental? The past is the past; why say anything? Especially Ninjini and Scarlett! They always claim to just be joking, but how can they be when they're jokes are so cruel?"

"Riley, I've been wondering the same thing for the last two years," Bash said. "She's saved quite a few of us."

"Cynder saved me from some huge sand dragon. Kept calling me 'Zap' and said I knew about the Skylanders because I was one. Weirdo, really. Came in this huge sandstorm," Riley tilted her head. "Wonder if he knows one of you guys?"

Bash gaped at her. He only knew of one sand dragon. And that sand dragon was nice and fair, not a vicious, murderous monster. "Did he happen to say his name?"

"Didn't specifically say it was his name, but he did call himself Geo," Riley shrugged. "Like I said, a weirdo."

"Geo...?" Bash blinked confusedly. "No, that must be mixed up... Geo was never like that... Never evil."

Riley glanced at him. "You knew a dragon named Geo?"

"Yes. Sand dragon, powerful, but fair and quite nice," Bash looked down. "I just saw Geo a month ago... Did this sand dragon talk with an accent of any kind?"

"Talked a bit like Dino-Rang," Riley said. But she wasn't paying him much attention. She was still staring at the part of the sky where Cynder had flown off.

Now Bash was sure of it. If this dragon did have Dino-Rang's accent, then that would mean this Geo was the same Geo he knew. Bash looked around for Spyro. The Purple Dragon was talking with Shroomboom.

The mushroom looked at his hands, and then back up at Spyro. "Alright, alright, I admit it," he said in his high-toned voice. "I did, okay? She wasn't lying. Jade and Flashwing said that if I do it, they wouldn't eat their pizza with mushrooms on it!"

Spyro groaned loudly. "What is wrong with you all?" He said aloud, but it had no air of force behind it. He was exasperated more than anything. "The past is the past! Anyway, go on, thanks for at least telling the truth."

Shroomboom nodded quickly. He didn't need to be told twice to leave. He turned and bolted.

"Spyro, we need to talk," Bash said as he got closer to the mystic Purple Dragon.

"What's wrong?" Spyro seemed to guess Bash was serious. He laid down and wrapped his tail around himself.

Bash sighed and worriedly fiddled with the grass blades. "Spyro, that sand dragon that Cynder and Riley fought off, that wasn't just any dragon..."

"Don't say it..."

"It was Geo... and you do remember what Ace said, don't you?" Bash looked up at him.

Bash remembered it perfectly. He hadn't gotten in close enough to land any hard or good blows on Ace, but he heard him as well as anybody else.

"Mark my words! This is not the last you will see of us! There are seven more! Geo, Bio, Corpse, Pyro, Agua, Ala, and Techna! They will all take care of you miserable creatures!"

The words repeated in his head, and he shook his head. "Spyro, Geo is one of them."

"How do you know it's Geo?" Spyro slammed his tail against the Core's base, and laid down. The grass parted where he laid down. He glared at the Core, as though it had failed him.

"Because... Spyro, Geo was once my friend. No, not like Ace and Whirlwind, but we were best friends... I don't understand how-or why-he would sign up for something like this," Bash sighed.

"Because he didn't." Spyro looked right at him. "Whatever Deu Sol's doing, it's serious, if he can trick perfectly good dragons into doing whatever he wants..."

"Should we attack?" Bash asked innocently.

"No!" Spyro hissed. "No. I don't want a repeat of our first encounter with Ace... But we need to know more about him. We need something like surveillance. You know the most about Geo, so you should probably go. I'd bring Stealth Elf, Hex, and Fright Rider. They're all pretty quiet."

"True..." Bash nodded. Steatlh Elf was a master at being quiet, being a ninja and all, and Fright Rider and Hex were generally quiet... well, Hex was. Fright Rider... Well...

"Come on Hex, just watch one with me, please?" Rider was begging her, holding up his spear. "Fright was dying to show you his new move!"

Fright, the skeletal ostrich, gave Rider a warning glance and then scuffed his feet, obviously irritated.

"Alright, alright, don't get your bones in a jam," Rider grumbled, stalking back over to Fright. He and Fright communicated through Fright's dark telepathy, and Fright only spoke to Rider, so to most, the dark elf appeared to be talking to himself. "Shut up, will you?"

"You shut up!" Ghost Roaster shouted at him, thinking the dark elf was speaking to him.

"Not you, you Ghost Rider, I was talking to Fright!" Rider shouted back. "Bloody Eon's Throne, what is wrong with all of you?" He grumbled, making it to Fright and jumping on the skeletal ostrich's back. Bash rolled his eyes. Sheila and Ben, their new Portal Masters, had recently watched a movie called 'Ghost Rider,' and Rider loved to mess with Ghost Roaster about it.

Bash looked blankly at Spyro. "Do I really have to take him along?" Bash may be willing to think about giving Cynder a second chance, but Rider just seemed plain crazy to him.

"You need back up, so yes," Spyro growled lightly. He looked around, and sighed. "And if you find Cynder, please bring her back here. I don't want her out there on her own if Geo is powerful..."

"Powerful?!" Bash exclaimed. "Powerful's an understatement! He's got some amazing abilities! He can disintegrate himself, turn himself into a sandstorm, and-"

Spyro cut him off with a hiss. "Yeah, thanks Bash, that made me feel all the better!"

"Sorry... just tellin' you the truth," Bash rubbed the back of his head, nervously laughing.

Meanwhile...

"Ha, look at where Ace is!" The fire dragon called out to his female magic dragon counterpart, the flames on his back igniting and blazing skyward. "Should we even bother with him?"

She was a dark violet dragon with dark crimson hair coming down from her forhead to her shoulders, and she had half-moons underneath her eyes. Her eyes were dark navy, and she had long, jagged-edged wings with a long tail that snaked behind her.

She sneered down at the trapped air dragon. "Hey, Ace! Need any help?" She mocked him.

"Shut up and get me out!" He snarled at her.

"Ouch, not a nice way to treat a lady," she growled dangerously. "Be careful or YOU'LL end up like Polarity. He's not very happy with you, Ace."

"I know..." Ace gulped and kept his wings folded tight to his sides. "He's never happy with me. I'm always seen as a failure in His eyes."

"That's because you are a failure, you fool," the fire dragon snarled, lowering himself to the bank of the cliff. He was large and bright orange, with a red muzzle and feet. Flames leapt and danced from his forehead to his tail-tip. Though he was on fire, he did not notice. This was because the flames were supposed to be there.

"He hardly even wants you back," the magic dragon sneered at him snobbishly. "Said you were a weak fool, and you even allowed Thor to get caught!"

"I'm a weak fool? Thor was a weak fool, he-WHAT ON ROARK'S NAME ARE YOU DOING?!" Ace screeched, dodging a streaking fireball sent his way by the fire dragon.

The fire dragon roared in laughter. "What do you know, it works on Kaz and you!"

"SHUT UP, and get me out already!" Ace beat his wings, but didn't so much as raise an inch from the ground, the tears in his wings were so large.

The female magic dragon gaped at him, astonished by the full amount of damage on Ace's wings. "If you return to Him like that, he'll laugh you out of Skylands!"

"More like beat," the fire dragon murmured, furrowing his brows. "Should we help him?" He looked intently at the violet dragoness.

"If we help him, He will have our heads, and Ace will be included," she growled. "But, I don't care. I want to see the look of horror on Ace's face when He rips his head off!"

The fire dragon backed away from her slightly. "You're severely twisted, you know that?" He said, before diving down into the canyon and grabbing Ace lightly by the feathers around his neck.

"Ouch-watch it, that hurts!" Ace whined.

"Ouch, watch it, that hurts!" The female magic dragon mocked him, laughing afterwards. "Whatever made Him choose you must have scrambled His brains or something. Ace, you're so weak, you make me sick."

Ace growled at her. "I don't have to listen to you, you know. The only other one of us I have to listen to is Agua."

The female magic dragon hissed and suddenly vanished, leaving nothing but pale smoke where she had stood. Ace began to abruptly struggle for air, clawing an unseen enemy. The fire dragon yelped and dropped him, backing away tentatively. Ace continued to struggle, and began to flounder on the earth, his tail striking the unseen enemy several times. He began to get weaker, when the female magic dragon suddenly revealed herself and revealed to have her clawed paw around Ace's throat. She let go and sneered at him evilly.

"Ace, you're worth as much to me and Him as the Skylanders. And, quite frankly, we could do without you. Why on Earth He wants us to bring you there alive, I'll never know," she slapped him in the face with her tail, and Ace cowered on the ground.

The fire dragon gulped and made his way forward, picking up Ace again. He was about three times as big as Ace was, and that was saying something; Ace was pretty big.

Back at Eon's Citadel...

"Do we really have to go with you?" Rider asked Bash, twiddling his thumbs. "I, er..."

"He's scared," Hex said bluntly.

"Hey! Am not!" Rider defended himself hotly. He looked down at Fright with a mortified look on his face. "You be quiet, you..." He pouted.

"All of you be quiet!" Stealth Elf shot at them, straightening her blue hair.

"Thank you," Bash murmured under his breath, watching the sky for the Dread-Yacht. "Flynn said he'd be here any minute. Now where is he?"

"The blasted pilot's probably showing off for Cali again, if you can call what he does impressive," Rider grumbled.

"Cali puts up with it, although I don't know how Hugo is standing it," Hex murmured. "He usually gets ready to pull out all his fur by the time Flynn's done beating around the ship."

BOOM!

"I thought I told you to stop imitating Flynn, Rider," Steatlh Elf snapped at him. "But you are getting way better, that almost sounded like a real 'Boom'."

"That wasn't me...?" Rider looked confused.

"No, it is Flynn," Bash said in annoyance, pointing his tail upward.

"Um, quick question, but is he supposed to be landing the ship on us?" Rider asked.

"Not really!" Hex backed away and used her dark powers to pull them out of the way. Flynn landed the ship on the island, nearly crushing Eon's old house and the Telescope.

Angry, Spyro got up and flared his wings, flying into the air. "What is wrong with you, Flynn? I asked you to come here, not de-Flynn?" Spyro stopped abruptly and gasped. "Bash, Flashwing, Dino-Rang, Prism Break, and Terrafin! Come here!"

"Oh dear, what's happened?" Hex murmured.

"Hope it's not pirates again! This guys have 'irate' in their name for a reason, you know," Rider said tentatively. The guy was a bit cowardly, but when it came to his best friends, Rider would seem to pull courage from nowhere.

"What's wrong, Spyro?" Bash walked over to where Spyro was hovering over the ground. The purple dragon went lower and picked up Bash, albeit with much difficulty, and dropped him on the ship. He was soon joined by the other Earth Skylanders. Crusher walked over.

He didn't need anyone to help him see, and Bash didn't blame him for yelling, "Blimey!"

Flynn's ship was covered, drenched in sand. The pilot's helm was drowned in sand, and all the rooms' doors were wide open, sand pouring out of them. The main deck, however, only had a light dusting on it...

Flynn came out of the pilot's helm, spluttering and coughing madly. "Wowsers! That guy sure didn't want us to get here! But where's Cali?" He looked around wildly. "Cali! Hugo! Auric! Brock!"

Cali came stumbling out of her cabin, coughing. Sand flew off her fur and some came out of her mouth. "I couldn't hardly breathe in there! Eon, Spyro, whoever's listening, you have to take out that guy soon!"

Hugo and Brock did not make an appearance, however. Spyro grabbed Terrafin and set him on the Dread-Yacht's deck. "Terrafin, please, please find Hugo and Brock," he pleaded. "Please don't let it happen again, dear Eon, please don't..." He prayed to himself, although he was well aware Eon's spirit was right next to him as well as many Skylanders.

Bash gritted his teeth. There was no doubt in his mind. Geo had done this. Geo. His best friend. The one he had just met the month before...

_"Bash! It's been so long!" Geo exclaimed, grinning and waving his sandy tail happily. "I could hardly wait!"_

_Geo was outside his home, which was a cave in a crevice of Mount Terra. He was standing on a ledge, helping Bash finish the climb to his ledge._

_"Honestly, Geo, living up here in this cave, making guests climb up here... not very polite, you know," Bash teased him._

_"Aw, Bash, you're such a tease, y'know? Well, g'day to ya, and it's wonderful to see ya again! Didn't think ya'd come by forevah!"_

How could Geo have gone so cold?

"Hugo!" Terrafin called before opening his jaws and jumping into the air. About halfway in his jump upwards, he turned and spiraled back towards the ground. With teeth like scissoring blades, he ate through the ground easily, and searched all the rooms. He zoomed in and out of Cali and Flynn's room quickly, but stayed inside Hugo's room.

The room was on the right side of the stairs of the staircase that led to the stern of the ship. He came out of the sandy room clutching Hugo, who was unconscious. He looked back into the room. "I can't get Brock! He's in there, too! And they're suffocatin', they needed to breathe, so we gotta hurry or Brock's a goner!"

"Oi, let old Fangs handle it," the seadog raised a hooked hand and barged into the room, coughing and sputtering. Bash assumed he used his hooked hand to drag the goliath drow out, because, sure enough, he heard Brock's forced, yet loud whisper.

"Hey, get me outta this sandcastle!" He said, his voice gritty and weak.

Fangs returned with Brock, hooked by his pants, to the deck. He grumbled to himself as he unhooked his hand from the goliath drow's pants. "Ye be safe now, drow," he said, before adding, "yet I hope I never has to rescue ye again like that..."

Bash dashed out ahead of everyone, surprising them with his speed, and got in front of Brock. "Who did this to you?"

"Sand dragon... mean... Talked funny..."

Hugo was still not stirring, and Brock looked exhausted. Whirlwind flew onto the deck, and shot a round of six rainbows at Hugo. He still did not arise.

She grunted. "He was in there for a long time... Spyro, I don't think h-"

Spyro cut her off with a loud, angry snarl. "NO! He's not... that!" He slammed his tail on the ground as he landed, going over to Hugo and dipping his head by the mabu. "Hugo... You can't be... That's not possible... You were there for everything... Both when Eon was here and as a spirit... You were the smartest, even if you were a tad paranoid..."

Bash blinked tearfully, feeling his insides squirm. It was true. Hugo had been there for everything. While he didn't exactly play a huge role in anything, he was always the one with the brains behind the plans...

"He's not dead, geez," Ninjini spoke up. "He's still alive, he's just passed out. And I doubt some rainbows are going to make him wake up, Whirlwind."

"My rainbows heal!" She growled back at the magic giant, who was standing next to Crusher.

"Heal; not wake up," Ninjini smirked. "Wow, it seems you guys need Hugo around in order to be the brains."

"Oh... right... eh heh..." Whirlwind giggled nervously.

"Sheila ain't even blonde, and she's havin' a blonde moment," Dino-Rang laughed.

Spyro's cheeks became a dark violet and he stomped away from Hugo, looking highly embarrassed. "Bash, Stealth Elf, Fright Rider, Hex, get going, I want Geo found. Do not attack; this is simply surveillance," Spyro ordered, taking flight. "If we figure out what's going on, we can devise a plan. I don't want Geo to gain the upper hand on us again."

"Geo?" Prism Break looked at the purple dragon with confusion in his amber-orange eyes. "Who's Geo?"

"Good question," Crusher turned to Spyro. "Who IS Geo?"

"Good question," Spyro repeated grimly.

"I still don't understand why I have to go!" Rider exclaimed for the fifth time to Bash, Stealth Elf, and Hex. They were all squashed in Flynn's dinghy, since his ship was drowned in sand and all-around uncomfortable.

"Because Spyro said so, now shut up," Hex said in annoyance. "Besides, we're all annoyed enough with this tight space, and if you keep complaining, I'll blast you out of it!"

"But..." Rider pouted, sticking out his lower lip. "Fine, Hex, you win."

"I would tease you two, but you're close enough to slap the heck out of me, so I'll refuse the tempting chance," Stealth Elf looked at them slyly, barely managing to duck as Hex took a swing at her. "See what I mean? Geez, why are you so violent? You're almost as bad as Cynder was this morning!"

"What about Cynder? Spyro disregarded her when he should have listened," Hex said pointedly. "I am with her on that case."

Rider looked highly nervous as Hex and Stealth Elf began to glare at each other. "L-look, can we not talk about Cynder? Look, we're here!"

Bash looked away from the wheel he was operating. Since Flynn wouldn't have fit with the rest of the surveillance team, he had been forced to drive. "We're not 'here' anywhere, Rider. And for Pete's sake, don't make me turn this dinghy around!"

"Am not!" Rider suddenly burst, glaring down at Fright. "I am not a 'sissy' nor am I 'crazy', so stop calling me that!"

"So, Rider, when do the guys in white lab coats come to take you to the happy hospital?" Hex teased him, laughing at herself.

"Great, Fright, look what you've got the others doing now," Rider growled down to his jousting partner. Bash groaned loudly and banged his head on the steering wheel.

"It's no wonder our Portal Masters are about twelve years old," Bash grumbled to himself. "All the Skylanders I know are childish as heck."

"Rider, we've been saying stuff like that since we met you," Stealth Elf laughed.

"Shh, quiet! Do you want him to know you're here?!"

Bash looked around. "Who said that?"

"Me, you idiot, now be quiet, all of you!" Cynder flew by them, coming to a stop. "Look straight down! And be glad it's starting to get dark!"

Bash noticed that the sky was indeed darkening. Looking down, he and the others saw a small, isolated island, and, to his astonishment, a huge sand dragon! "Whoa-that guy's huge! And howcome you're here?" Bash asked her.

"Well, I certainly wasn't sticking around Spyro! And I wanted to find Sandman," she growled.

"His name is Geo," Bash said, sighing. "I knew him a long time ago. Was my best friend... I just saw him a month ago, and he wasn't anything like this... Something's wrong with him..."

"I'll tell you what, he tried to kill my best friend!" Cynder snarled.

"Who?" Rider chimed in, and Hex elbowed him hard in the abdomen. He grunted and rubbed where she had hit him. "I mean, yes, her, of course..."

"Riley!" Cynder growled impatiently. "We don't have time for this! Come on, we can take Sandman, he should be easy!"

"Are you MAD?" Stealth Elf demanded. "Spyro sent us here strictly for a surveillance mission, not an attack, and going against him-Cynder!"

Cynder curled her lip and dove at Geo.

"Why does it always have to be the hard way with her?" Stealth Elf whined.

"Because she's a fighter, and because she's mad at Spyro," Hex said defiantly. "And if any of you have anything negative to say, go ahead and say it so I can hit you with an orb."

"Shut up, Hex, we have to help her!" Rider shouted, a glint of determination replacing the cowardly demeanor of him. Fright gave a loud squawk, and Rider grinned. "Ah, yes, of course, Fright."

"Well? Bash, take us down!" Stealth Elf ushered him to do so with her hands.

"Going down," Bash said resignedly, taking the dinghy down low.

Cynder was stalking in a circle, Geo following her every move. He swung his tail. "So," he began, "ya came back for more, did ya, mate?"

"More? More of what, your stupidness?" Cynder scoffed. "I don't take kindly to those who try to kill my best friend, just saying..." she growled. Suddenly, a dragon made of stone and granite, yet the same size as Cynder, leapt out of nowhere and jumped on top of her, putting a clawed paw to her neck, holding her to the ground. Cynder struggled and hissed. She got tired of her confinement, and opened her jaws, a long, jet-black rod of lightning surging outward, and striking the rock dragon.

The dragon wasn't affected... at all. He merely glowered back down at Cynder. "Sorry. Not gonna work. Made of solid rock. Not gonna go through."

Cynder struggled even harder, and Geo stood over top of her. "Well, well, well, if it isn't Cyndah! Must say, you're quite the speedy one. But bogan would be a bettah word for ya, 'cause by the time I'm done with ya, they wouldn't be able to tell the difference between ya and a hobo!"

Cynder looked genuinely scared. She gulped and closed her eyes tightly, preparing for the worst... Bash opened his mouth and shouted, "NOW!"

Stealth Elf came streaking out of the landed dinghy, running in circles around Geo, slashing at him, even though it was doing nothing more than annoying him. She left dust flying in her wake, and her blue braid was snaking out behind her. With her mask over her face, it was highly unlikely the sand would bother her breathing.

Fright Rider both went for the small rock dragon, Rider pointing his spear straight at him. The rock dragon didn't move, and the spear snapped clean in two when it hit him. "Don't bother," he said. "I don't want to hurt Cynder anyway. Letting her go." Rider glared at him.

He let go of Cynder, looking at her with what could have been genuine concern. But Cynder wasn't having any of it. She snarled and leapt at him, scrabbling at him with her claws, beating him with her wings, and slashing at him with her tail. If Cynder was using nothing but an average dragon's powers-scratching, biting, and beating-then she was angry. Very angry.

Fright Rider instead yanked out another spear from his bag and charged at Geo, running straight through the sand dragon and coming out on the other side. He was covered in the dust and in pebbles. "Ugh! Nasty! This sand is WET! And some of it is red!" He began to rub the sand off him, looking like somebody with ants in their clothes.

"'Cause you just went through his insides, genius!" Bash shouted at him. "Geo, stop this! What's wrong?"

"Haha! Wrong? Ain't nothin' wrong, Bash, just doin' me job!" He looked back down at his old friend, grinning. "Takin' out five miserable Skylandahs who thought they could sneak up on me! Bloody stupid of ya, really."

"Well, if SOMEONE hadn't rushed in, we wouldn't even be attacking!" Stealth Elf said sharply, scowling at Cynder.

"Stealth Elf, another time, please?" Bash pleaded, dodging several sandballs from Geo.

"Hey, Sandman! Take this!" Fright, Rider on his back, extended his neck to monstrous heights, becoming level with Geo. Rider ran up his friend's elongated neck, and stabbed Geo right in the eye.

Geo laughed. "Idiot! I am Geo, I'm made of sand, or haven't ya noticed?" He solidified his tail by plating it with rocks, and swung it at Fright, scattering the ostrich's bones everywhere. Bash was hit with several carpals and Hex was struck with a few ribs, and Cynder yeled, dodging his skull. Stealth Elf had vertebrae flying in her direction.

Rider was knocked several feet away, unconscious.

Hex shrieked and began shouting, "Abort! Abort! Fright Rider's down!"

"You're not kidding, he's all over me!" Bash exclaimed, shaking off a few bones from Fright.

"This was a disaster, and it's all my fault!" Cynder wailed, crouching behind Bash. "I'm so sorry! I'm such an idiot!" She covered her face with her front right paw, and sniffled.

"No worries, Cynder," Bash consolidated her. "But start grabbing the bones around here! Fright can put himself back together back at the Citadel, but we have to get the others! You hear me, Stealth Elf, Hex?"

"Loud and clear!" Stealth Elf grimaced, dodging several sandballs from Geo, panting. Geo's sandballs weren't anything to laugh at. They were huge, and had rocks in them as well as sand.. She was getting tired. Hex wasn't much better, she was panicking along with getting exhausted. Geo slammed his tail next to her, skimming her cowl, causing her to jump. She wafted far away and got next to Bash. "We've got to leave!"

"Then grab Fright and let's go!" Bash repeated, grabbing several ribs.

"HE'S ALL OVER THE PLACE!" Hex exclaimed.

"No kidding!" Cynder growled.

"Shut up!" Stealth Elf hissed, disappearing, leaving a fake dummy behind her. Geo swatted it away, and looked around.

Stealth Elf reappeared next to Rider, grabbing him by his suit and dragging him over to the dinghy.

Cynder used her ghosts to help her, and she got most of Fright's bones and piled them into the dinghy. Hex was extremely panicked, and got into the dinghy without second thought. Bash turned to Geo, who was roaring in laughter, literally.

"I don't know what's happened to you, Geo, but this isn't you! Why won't you listen for just one second?" Bash called up to him.

"'Cause the only one I listen to is Him, not you, ya little piece o' rock!" Geo suddenly seemed to explode, sending sand everywhere. The sand was hanging in the air, and swirling, like a dire sandstorm. Bash couldn't see an inch in front of his face.

"I can't see!" Hex screeched, sounding even more panicky.

"What's going on...? Ow, it's in my eyes!" Rider's groggy voice could be heard through the sandstorm. He must have woken up.

"C'mon, Bash, we have to go!" Stealth Elf shouted.

"Bash, let's GO!" Cynder called.

Bash, coughing, stumbled around. He couldn't see, and had no idea where he was. But then, a blurred figure came towards him.

"Come on. Your dinghy's over there. On top of cliff," the rock dragon said in his gruff tone. He gave his tail out to Bash, who slapped his tail away from him.

"Why should I trust you!?" He snarled. "You were helping him!"

"Because I hate him," the rock dragon had sky blue eyes, unusual for a rock dragon. He slammed his tail on the ground. "Now, you gonna follow me or what?"

"Fine," Bash said grudgingly.

"Good," he said. Bash followed the rock dragon and he led him to the top of the cliff. But just then, the sandstorm began to clear.

"Oh no... no please, not yet!" The blue-eyed rock dragon spun around, gasping. The sandstorm had stopped, but all the sand was turning into a shape... then Bash realized, as the figure began to define, it was Geo. The same, long, triangular head, the long, irregular body, the wide, sweeping tail...

"Go!" The rock dragon ordered, shoving Bash off the cliff and into the dinghy. Cynder yelped and scooted over for him.

"BOULDER! How dare you help the enemy! Wait until He hears about this!" Geo's angry roars could be heard as they drifted away. Bash did not want to think about what would happen to that blue-eyed dragon, apparently, Boulder. That dragon had saved his life. Geo would have surely killed him had it not been for him.

He was snapped back to reality by Rider, who was sobbing on the floor. "Fright!" He called. "Answer me, don't ignore me!" He shouted.

Hex looked away. "I don't think he's ignoring you, Rider... I told you... Geo swatted him like a fly..."

"NO!" Rider got to his feet and put his hands on Hex's shoulders, shaking her like a madman. He had a wild look of pure fury in his eyes. He shoved her to the edge of the dinghy, nearly dumping her out the side. "He's not! Not my ostrich! Not him!"

"Rider, get off, please!" Hex gasped, managing to shove him off. "He... he can put himself back together, right? Isn't he, well... already dead?"

Bash looked between them. He had never seen Rider explode in anger before... Rider was never really seen without an air of content around him. He was never really bothered by anybody, therefore, never really had a reason to snap. But when Bash saw him lunge at Cynder, he knew there'd be trouble.

"THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!" He bellowed, grabbing her by her neck brace. Stealth Elf had pinned herself away from him, next to Hex, and Bash was still steering. "Haven't you learned to not deviate from plans yet, you stupid git? WELL?!"

"I... I..." Cynder didn't say anything, and merely stuttered. "I swear... I d-didn't... R-rider, I..."

"Rider nothing!" He glared at her, nothing but cold hatred coming off him in waves.

"Rider, that's enough," Bash growled, using his sheer bulk to separate Cynder and Rider.

"ENOUGH?! Because of her, Fright's nothing but a pile of bones!" Rider screeched. "And you want me to sit barely a foot away from her? You're a stupid git too!"

"I said ENOUGH!" Bash slammed his tail into the floor, leaving a flimsy spot in the floor. "We're Skylanders! Let's try to act dignified, shall we? Spyro's going to be angry enough! And Cynder's not to totally blame! Spyro can blame himself a little, because he yelled at her and was wrong this morning!"

Cynder shook her head and looked guiltily at the floor. "No, Bash. It's time I faced facts. I don't belong."

"You-OW! Hex, knock that off!" Rider was about to say something, but Hex has elbowed him, successfully stopping whatever he was going to say.

"Cynder, Riley needs you, you should have seen her face this morning," Bash told her, returning to the wheel. "Riley was heartbroken when you yelled at her."

"Riley?" Cynder blinked and then recognition flashed in her eyes. "Sh-she was?"

"Occ-OW! KNOCK THAT OFF!" Rider was elbowed this time by Stealth Elf.

"Yes," Bash nodded. "Now sit tight, we're almost back at the Citadel. Hopefully Hugo and Brock are feeling better now."

* * *

"He was what?!" Spyro shoved Cynder and Bash out of his way, marching straight past them and going over to Rider and what Fright had been reduced to.

They were back at the Citadel. Flynn's ship had been pushed to the far corner, next to the Tree of Life and the Telescope, most likely by the Giants, and the grass was swaying gently in the Jet Winds harsh breeze. The Skylanders were all gathered around, the Giants in the back of the crowd.

Rider sniffled and looked away, clenching his eyes shut.

"He's not dead," Ninjini piped up. "Honestly, what are you all, Dark Debbies? Everyone is so negative... he's just a little broken, heh. Whirlwind, rainbows, honey."

"Right up, honey," Whirlwind sneered the last word, obviously hating Ninjini calling her that.

Bash stared in awe as Whirlwind fired off a round of five rainbows. Fright's bones floated into the air and began to rearrange themselves, forming the skeletal ostrich's body frame. Rider opened his eyes wide and watched in amazement.

Fright was reformed and floated back down to the ground. The ostrich did not move for several moments, and Bash was afraid Ninjini had been mistaken. But then, he lifted his head, his blue eyes shining with life. Rider made a happy grunt-like sound and jumped on the back of Fright, rearing back his head. He raised his spear into the air. "We're still champions, we are, Fright!"

"Yes!" Hex, though usually not as peppy as she was being right then, beamed.

Cynder looked at them and then away. Bash noticed her slink off towards Riley. She flopped down and looked at the others.

Bash followed her gaze and saw her eyeing Ninjini. It was likely the dark dragoness had slunk off to avoid humiliation by the magic giant.

Suddenly, Rider stopped his victory dance, and looked over to Bash. "Bash! Come here!"

"Coming," Bash said, puzzled. He walked over to the dark elf. "What is it?"

"We need to tell Spyro what we found out... and that if it weren't for Cynder-"

Bash cut him off. "No! I'm not going to call out Cynder in front of everyone!"

"What are you talking about? I was saying, that if it weren't for Cynder, we would have never found Geo's hideout, or figured out who Geo was at all! And Riley'd be sandy history!" Rider exclaimed in a surprised tone. "What did you think I was going to say?"

Bash blinked at him dumbly. Earlier, Rider had been ready to strangle anyone who came near him, and had attempted to be extremely cruel to Cynder, only to be stopped by Hex and Stealth Elf. "Something quite mean," Bash laughed.

"Spyro!" Rider called the mystic purple dragon.

"Yes?" Spyro turned to him, his red eyes burning into the dark elf's pure white ones.

"I just want Bash to make an announcement," Rider said, bowing to Bash, who knew it was his turn to take up the statement.

"Well, if it weren't for Cynder, we wouldn't know a thing about Geo, or his minion, Boulder. We would never have saved Riley, and Cynder practically saved Flynn and the others that time, too," Bash said. "Cynder really helped us today."

Hex and Stealth Elf exchanged completely confused gazes.

"You know that's not true."

"What?" Bash looked around, looking for who had spoken to him.

"Stop, or they'll think you're crazy. It's Fright. You know Cynder did nothing but cause trouble today. She's the reason for the 'incident' of us accidentally fighting Geo."

Bash cast the skeletal ostrich a half-hearted glance before quickly looking back at Spyro, who looked just as confused as the others.

Bash focused hard... He couldn't talk out loud, he'd have to answer inwardly... "Fright, I can't humiliate her in front of Ninjini and Scarlett, or Jade and Flashwing. They're atrocious to her," he managed to send the feedback with the help of Fright's dark telepathy.

"So, lying will solve it?" Fright replied. "I just don't like it."

"So, she saved you all, huh?" Ninjini wafted through the crowd, coming to a stop in front of Cynder and Riley. Riley bared her teeth and glared at her.

"You're a jerk, you know that, right?" Riley growled at her.

"Why? I was just going to say one thing," Ninjini lifted Cynder's head to look at her. Cynder jerked her head away from the magic giant, shooting Bash a nasty look. She wasn't thanking him for drawing attention to her.

"I was going to say that Cynder... has been doing a good job lately," Ninjini appeared to almost be choking as she said the words. She quickly regained her composure and whipped her ponytail, turning and floating back to hover next to Scarlett, who smirked at her and swatted her red ponytail around.

Bash grinned. They had found out Geo's main powers, where he lived, that his minion was Boulder, and they had at least made Ninjini and Scarlett more open to Cynder.

"You still lied, Bash," Fright's voice called to him. Bash shot the skeletal ostrich a contemptuous look, before stomping away. He headed towards Dino-Rang and Prism Break.


	8. Mirror, Mirror

**_Mirror, Mirror_**

* * *

"Hex, come on, where'd you put it?" Ghost Roaster groaned. He swung his mace around, looking for the orb Hex had conjured.

"I got it!" Fright Rider raced by, catching the dark purple orb with his bare hands, throwing it over Ghost Roaster's head, and Cynder caught it in her jaws. She grinned and sent it flying at Chop Chop, who slapped it with his sword.

It was sailing towards Ghost Roaster. He smiled. _Finally!_ He leapt up and caught it with his hands. He sent it flying back towards Hex, who caught it by stopping it midair, and then causing it to disappear. It was her favorite thing to do with the orb-make it vanish.

"Oh, come on, Hex, I hate it when you do that," Rider crossed his arms.

"Ha, well, then I wouldn't look behind you," she smirked as the orb knocked into the back of the dark elf's head, causing his helmet to go ajar. Everyone busted out laughing at him.

"Ha ha, so funny I forgot to laugh," Rider grumbled, fixing his helmet, his black hair sticking out from under it. He gave Fright an annoyed look and then caught the orb, as it was still floating around him. He threw it at Eye, whose body, Brawl, was sitting several feet away.

"I got it!" Eye stopped it with his wings and hit it, and Cynder jumped skywards, whacking it far away with her back right leg.

"Enough with the Orball, guys," Spyro came walking over, causing the orb to knock right into Chop Chop's head. He grumbled as he caught the orb with his bony hands. Spyro chuckled a little. "Come on, Double Trouble, Roy, and Scarlett are all having this big magic face-off. They wanted to have a little competition to see who could win."

"Oh, geez, that's a hard one," Cynder rolled her eyes.

Ghost Roaster blinked in confusion. "It's a hard what?"

Ghost Roaster wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed, to say the least. He was obsessed with eating anything that came into sight and often didn't think things through, although Spyro trusted him.

"If I know Scarlett, she'll probably do anything to win," Cynder growled, Riley falling in pace beside her. The water dragon shook herself, straightening her dorsal fin that went from her forehead to her tail-tip.

Spyro led them past Eon, who was watching them with an analytical gaze. Though Ghost Roaster didn't truly understand all the squabbles that happened in the Citadel and within the Skylanders, what he didn't understand was why Eon never really stepped in to resolve anything...

He should ask him that later...

Rider got off of Fright, and rubbed his hand over the ostrich's neck bones. He murmured something to the ostrich, and Fright wandered away, watching from a bit of a distance. As Rider walked towards Whirlwind and Hex, the bright, blue orb on the center of his chest began to go haywire. Rider took a seat next to Hex and Whirlwind, and he was surprised to see Hex lean on his shoulder. He'd noticed the two dark creatures commonly sat next to each other and spoke a lot, and even teased each other constantly, he'd never seen such an open display of affection.

In front of the crowd of fifty or so Skylanders, was a stage Ghost Roaster had never seen before. It looked like Flynn's hut and Persephone's hut were remodeled into the stage since they never used their huts anymore. It was in front of the pathway that led to the rail-station and train, and Royal (called Roy by most), Scarlett, and Double Trouble were on the stage. Ninjini was watching from the back of the crowd.

Tree Rex sat down next to Crusher, and began murmuring things to the rock golem. Bouncer and Hot Head began talking excitedly as they took their seats on the right of Tree Rex and Crusher. Ninjini had Swarm pestering her for something, but she did a wave of her hand with a smirk on her face, smirking and saying, "Go buzz around somebody else," laughing. Swarm shot her a contemptuous look and took a spot next to Thumpback, Granite (Crusher's uncle), and Eye-Brawl.

He shrugged and sat next to Cynder and Molta. Molta, Hot Dog's yellow brother, began talking right away. He was always the talkative one... "Look, look, look! Scarlett's about to cast her most famous spell, Dazzling Enchantment! Wow... Pretty..."

Scarlett disappeared into her bottle, and pink stardust began to float around the Citadel... Ghost Roaster began to feel whoozy, and his vision became blurred. Rubbing his eyes, he made out the shape of Roy, Double Trouble's cousin, a tiki man all the same, began to stumble. Without warning, he tumbled off stage onto Wrecking Ball and Jade.

Jade hissed and tried to move away, only to stumble and fall. Wrecking Ball, more or less, seemed to not have noticed, as he didn't move whatsoever. The mist died away, and Scarlett reappeared, grinning happily at the disoriented Skylanders.

Eon's voice raised from the back of the crowd. "Come on, Scarlett, enough."

"Fine, fine," even Scarlett wasn't stupid enough to disobey Eon, even though she and Ninjini would question his orders every now and again. She waved her arms in an odd, sweeping motion, and Ghost Roaster's vision returned to normal and his stomach untied itself from knots... Well, it would have if he had a stomach!

Roy shook his head and wafted back on-stage, and began twirling his staff, conjuring up two magical doubles of himself. The two mindless creatures said a few gibberish "ooga"s and looked around wildly, before saying, "Ooga?"

Roy tapped the two doubles on their heads, and they disappeared.

"Booga bee," Double Trouble gave Roy a grin of arrogance, before spinning in a circle. His staff lit, and a laser-like beam came off it. Into the stage, he drew something...

He waved the staff left, right, up, down, and whatever other direction, for a long time, before the staff's light died and he floated back, closing his eyes and smirking in a delighted way.

"Well, what the crud did he draw?" Dino-Rang finally shouted from the crowd.

"Ooga booga eega biguba!" Double Trouble pouted, pointing his staff and levitating it in the air.

Ghost Roaster smiled at it. It was a picture of all the Skylanders! However Double Trouble had done it so quick, he had done a good job of it. Spyro, Eon, and Cynder were at the front. In the back, were all the giants, including Crusher, Swarm, Ninjini, Bouncer, Eye-Brawl, Tree Rex, Hot Head, Thumpback, Scarlett, and Granite. In the middle were all the various Skylanders, according to element. The first up was undead, picturing Fright Rider, Hex, Ghost Roaster himself, and Chop Chop, the next, Magic, picturing Double Trouble, Roy, Wrecking Ball, Pop Fizz, Red Fizz, and Voodood... A sigh of content echoed around the clearing.

"It's very pretty," Ninjini commented, smiling.

"Look!" Rider picked up Hex's hand and pointed it at him and her. They had been depicted right next to each other, and in the picture, he and Hex were leaning on one another, Fright eating something off the ground. "Nice drawing abilities he's got, huh, Hex?"

"I'd say," she smiled.

"Ha, he even got all my nuts and bolts on my suit right!" Drobot exclaimed. He was sitting two seats away from Ghost Roaster, on the right side of Whirlwind. He wasn't wearing his suit at the moment, and his eyes were looking more of a greenish color. Drobot had strange eyes; they constantly changed between blue, brown, and green. Whirlwind nodded, "And he even included Polarity..." She said sadly, flattening her ears and looking up at the drawing, sighing.

"It's okay, really," Drobot tried to comfort her.

"It's these things that bring us together, then, huh?" Spyro said, glancing at Cynder.

Cynder nodded back at him. "Guess so."

Ghost Roaster blinked at them all. "What on Skylands is wrong with them?" Ghost Roaster asked Molta.

The yellow dog shrugged. "Everyone knows Whirlwind and Drobot have something goin' on. Although, I've never really seen Rider and Hex so close before, hehe," Molta clicked his tongue. "Tsk, tsk."

"Never thought you were the kind of type to like rumors, Molta," Ghost Roaster remembered Jade and Flashwing saying that rumors were usually about two people who liked each other.

"Rumors? You need to stop hanging out with those two princesses," Molta rolled his eyes. "Rumors are bad things you say about anybody, or anything, really. Gossip. It's for girls."

"Oh, okay," Ghost Roaster nodded.

"Well, I think it's clear who wins that one," Hugo clapped, walking onto the stage. He had gotten better after his randevu with Geo on Flynn's ship. He pointed at Double Trouble. "Wonderful picture, Double Trouble!"

"Ooga," Double Trouble waved a hand, as though embarrassed.

"Whoa!" Storm, Sonic Boom's eldest son, exclaimed, jumping onto the stage. "Look at the hole he made the picture out of! It's GLOWING!" He bounced a little. "Hey, mom, can I jump in it? Please?"

"Of course not, do you want something bad to happen?" Sonic Boom sighed exasperatedly. She was starting to get annoyed with trying to raise the four young grffins on her own. She beckoned Storm back over to her with her tail.

"Um, he's not lying, there is something seriously wrong about that hole..." Scarlett murmured, floating away from it a bit.

"Boo?" Double Trouble looked into the hole that he had left after pulling the picture off the stage. All of a sudden, black and red lights burst from the hole, engulfing the tiki man. He gave a shout of surprise, but was yanked down the hole by the lights.

"Double Trouble!" Eon and Spyro's exclamations coincided with one another. Ghost Roaster picked up his mace with his bony hand, grinning.

"Spyro, is it time to eat? Hahaha!" He asked, laughing madly afterwards.

Spyro looked annoyed at first but then smiled a bit. "Sure, Ghost Roaster. Time to eat," he turned and ran up onto the stage, the rest of the Skylanders giving an uproar of shock. "Calm down!" He shouted. "But I want everyone except Whirlwind and Fright Rider to go down there!"

"Why not me?" Fright Rider asked, murmurs of outrage coming from Whirlwind.

"Because somebody's got to guard the Citadel!" Spyro growled, "And I say that someone is you three. Now, everyone, let's go!"

Ghost Roaster felt his heart-figuratively speaking, of course-soar in delight. He laughed wildly and charged forward.

Before he jumped down the hole, he saw Sonic Boom angrily lash her tail, careening around Storm, Mayflower, Lionheart, and Godspeed, keeping them away from the hole. "I'm not going down there nor are my young, Spyro!" She shot at him.

"Fine, stay here, then!" Spyro said, rolling his eyes. He was getting irritated with Sonic Boom lately. She was getting more interested in guarding herself and her young than going on missions.

Ghost Roaster looked away, not understanding what their confrontations were about, and dove into the hole.

The light show in the hole shocked him. Neon lights dashed across his vision, dazzling his eyes, causing spots to dance in front of his face. A thunder-like clap sounded. Then more thunderous booms sounded.

"Where's the off button for this thing?!" He heard Terrafin ask.

"Off button, haha!" Ghost Roaster laughed.

The light show ended and he was tossed up into bright sunshine. He flew a bit into the air, and then landed, face-first, into the grass, causing most of it to go into his mouth.

"Yuck! I'm never using grass in a recipe, that's for sure!" Ghost Roaster stuck out his tongue at the grass as he got up. "Wait a second..." He looked around in confusion. "This is the Citadel!"

"What on Skylands was that, a black hole or something?" Gill Grunt looked up, shaking his head vigorously. "Spyro, remind me to steer clear of black holes... I think... Wait, what was I sayin'...?

"Wherever we are, I hope it has gold! GOLD, GOLD, GOLD, hahahaha!" Trigger Happy looked wildly around. "Aw, this is the Citadel. I took all the gold from here... Then Auric chased me around with a broom after I accidentally took his gold bag, but... yeah..."

"Stop where you are!"

Ghost Roaster saw Spyro bare his teeth and stalk toward him, Cynder, Zap, Eon, and Pop Fizz behind him. "Hi Spy-wait, what?" Ghost Roaster turned around. Spyro was behind him, too! Zap was a few feet away, Red Fizz, Pop Fizz's more mature brother, sitting on top of him.

"I said-" the Spyro in front of him had a shady, blackish-purple aura flowing around him. It began to swirl extremely fast, and then, Spyro's scales went from purple to black, and his orange wings, tail, claws, and horns changed to silver. "-who are you?" He snarled. He had a much darker aura about him, a much more serious atmosphere...

"Good question!" The Spyro behind Ghost Roaster shoved him out of the way and glared at the other Spyro. Ghost Roaster whipped his head back and forth.

"What on Skylands is going on?!" He demanded. "Because if I wasn't dead, my head would explode!"

"Another good question," the dark Spyro growled. "I don't know who you imposters are, but-"

"Imposters?!" The unchanged Spyro exclaimed. "If anyone's an imposter, it's you!"

The two Spyros jumped at each other. Dark Spyro was obviously a lot more erratic than the normal Spyro was, as he had no problems using his claws to scratch his counterpart, and did so viciously. He left blood on the normal Spyro.

Ghost Roaster made room for them as they turned into a whirling ball of claws and teeth. They finally separated, blood drooling from the side of the regular Spyro's mouth, the dark Spyro having nothing but scuff marks across him.

Both dragons opened their jaws and prepared fireballs...

"Stop it!" Eon's spirit floated from behind Ghost Roaster to the front. Another spirit of Eon's floated from the side of the dark Spyro. "It is obvious we have punctured another dimension. Double Trouble must have made it without realizing it when he used his Eldritch Beam on the stage we created."

"Eons...?" The dark Spyro reverted back to his normal self, and the Spyro Ghost Roaster knew blinked in confusion. Ghost Roaster noticed that the Spyro that had been the dark Spyro had black claws rather than orange ones like the Spyro he knew.

He also noticed several differences among the others. The alter-ego Zap had yellow tanks, Cynder had golden brackets and bracelets rather than silver, and Pop Fizz had a dark crimson backpack rather than a brown one.

"Spyro? What's going on?" A different version of Sonic Boom appeared. She had a brass-colored helmet and bracelets rather than gray. Her eyes were also yellow.

The Eon that had come with Ghost Roaster from their own dimension spoke up. "Our Double Trouble broke a dimensional hole in space and time, allowing us access to a universe that is only slightly different than our own," he explained.

A different version of Whirlwind and Polarity appeared. Polarity had brown and yellow eyes rather than orange and purple, and the different Whirlwind had black feathertips rather than white. They walked over to the golden-brackets Cynder and began talking to her.

"Whoa, what's going on?" Black-feathertips Whirlwind asked.

"Don't ask me," golden-brackets Cynder spoke with a confident and arrogant tone, rather than a shy and suspicious one. Ghost Roaster was surprised by this. The Whirlwind he knew had never spoken to Cynder upon her own wishes at all.

"Polarity?" Ghost Roaster made way for the Whirlwind he knew, the white-feathertipped one. She got into the odd Polarity's face. "You're alive!"

"Um... yeah..." Polarity screwed her face up in confusion, shoving her away. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"Because she was killed," the Eon from Ghost Roaster's realm began. "Do the names Ace, Geo, or Deu Sol ring a bell, Spyro?" He looked down at the black-clawed Spyro.

"No. Why? Who are they?" The dark-clawed version of Spyro stared at his paws, as though trying to recall the names. "Are they old enemies? 'Cause I don't remember them."

"Just as I suspected," Eon nodded.

"Yes, most right, Positive Eon," the Eon from the dark-clawed Spyro's realm spoke to Ghost Roaster's Eon. "I think it'd be best if we called you Positive Eon and me Negative Eon, as we may be the same or opposites. We don't know. But it is obvious that your Spyro and my Spyro are very different, like opposites. Shall we address each other by Negative and Positive?"

"Right, Negative Eon," Positive Eon, the Eon Ghost Roaster knew, nodded.

"Will someone explain what the heck is going on?" Ninjini shouted from behind Ghost Roaster. Ghost Roaster had given up long ago trying to figure out what was going on. His skull was still hurting from trying to decide what was going on.

"When Double Trouble drew that image, his Eldritch Beam opened up a Negative Universe, or a separate universe from ours, with your alter-egos. When Kaos banished us all to Earth, he also broke through millions of dimensions, causing multiples of the same Skylanders to rain down on Earth," Positive Eon explained. "You were all found by separate Portal Masters, which is why you are all fairly different. It depends on what Portal Masters you met. How old are your Portal Masters, Negative Spyro?"

"Huh?" The black-clawed Spyro looked confused by the name. "Erm... We only have one. Cindi. And she's six."

"Easy. Since they are around a young Portal Master, they are commonly left alone, and, they only hear extremely positive things. So, these alternative egos are likely to be fairly different from you all. Double Trouble!" Positive Eon called.

"Here!" Two versions of the tiki man appeared. The Negative one had blue eyes, and the Positive one had green eyes. They looked at each other a little apprehensively.

"Can you recreate that dimensional hole?" Positive Eon asked.

"Oo... Booga nooga, yuga booga," Positive Double Trouble gave a slight grin, looking extremely embarrassed.

"Oooga booga, oogie fooga!" Negative Double Trouble shouted at his Positive counterpart.

"Quiet, both of you," both of the Eons spoke at the same time. "Positive Double Trouble, try. Negative Double Trouble, help him."

"Whoa, strange place!" Ghost Roaster exclaimed.

"What's stranger, is that they don't know about Ace, Geo, Deu Sol, nothing," Positive Spyro shook his head. "Something's wrong about this place..."

"Eon said it's because we have different Portal Masters," Ghost Roaster tilted his head to the side. "But... wait... what would that have to do with whether they encounter Deu Sol or not? Wouldn't he still exist?"

"He should... Unless... Negative Spyro!" Positive Spyro called.

Ghost Roaster's mind wandered away from the suspicions. Positive Cynder and Negative Cynder were acquainting themselves, and he was interested to see how it went. If this Negative Cynder was mean to the Cynder he knew, he'd chop her up and put her in a new recipe of his!

"So, you're my alter-ego, huh?" Negative Cynder skeptically analyzed Positive Cynder. "You're afraid of your own shadow. Boo!"

Positive Cynder flinched a bit, and she unsheathed her teeth. "Back off," she growled.

Riley did the same, lashing her tail.

"Wow, you guys are uptight," Negative Cynder looked Riley up and down. "And who are you?"

"Riley, doofus," Riley snarled. "And leave Cynder alone!"

"I am, I don't want to be around Debby Downer anyway," Negative Cynder looked away.

"Why I oughtta..." Ghost Roaster glared after the Negative Cynder. But he felt immense pity for his world's Cynder. She was so jumpy due to how she was treated back at their own Citadel, that she wasn't even able to be friends with herself at the Negative Citadel...

"You mean, you helped Vathek take him down?!" Positive Spyro's exclamatory gasp of shock was heard by everyone in the Citadel.

The Negative Spyro nodded. "Yeah. Cindi had decided to play with us that day, and she had me and Cynder go to Dragon's Peak. We found Vathek fighting some other dark dragon, and we helped take him out. We never learned his name, though," Negative Spyro tipped his head in thought. "Then we had to go rescue Flavius and Ramses. They were in pretty bad shape. Hex, Ninjini, and Pop Fizz put Vathek back as a statue and there's no way he's ever getting out of this time." Negative Spyro proudly puffed out his chest, grinning.

"So that's it?"

Positive Whirlwind stalked up to Negative Spyro. "All we had to do was take out this dark dragon before he managed to recruit members? That's all we had to do?!" She demanded.

"Well, he was extremely powerful... Cynder and I got too tired and a bunch of others had to take him out, Cindi complained it was too hard and left us after a bit, but thankfully Hex and Fright Rider were able to pull it off, but yeah, we did. Man, he was tough..." Negative Spyro shrugged. "Oh well. Hey, Negative Sunburn!"

This Sunburn had many noticeable differences from his positive counterpart. His feathers were golden-yellow instead of red-orange, and his legs were dark red. His eyes were bright orange, and his tail was red at the edge, along with his wings. He looked like Positive Sunburn with all his coloring reversed.

"Yeah, Spyro?" He asked.

"Did you ever figure out the name of that dragon we fought at Dragon's Peak?" Negative Spyro asked.

"Yep. Deu Sol. Means 'Sun God.' Not sure why he'd be called that, he was anything but sunny," Negative Sunburn laughed. "Wasn't no walk in the park taking him out though... didn't have any helpers with him."

"That's impossible! He has at least eight!" Positive Spyro exclaimed.

"No... he didn't..." Negative Spyro blinked at him. "Y'know, are you guys sure you're okay?"

"We're fine," Positive Cynder stalked up beside Positive Spyro and took to glaring at his negative counterpart. "Spyro, I think it's time we left. Double Trouble almost has that dimensional tunnel or whatever it is done."

"What's your issue?" Spyro asked her, furrowing his brows.

"I'm ready to leave," she growled, lashing her tail, shooting her negative counterpart a dark glare. The feelings must have been mutual, because Negative Cynder stuck her tongue out at her.

"UGH!" She sliced a cut in the ground with her tail, stomping towards Ghost Roaster.

"What's wrong?" He asked her. Maybe he shouldn't have...

"Her," she snarled, gesturing with her tail towards the Negative Cynder, who was splayed out on a rock, talking with Negative Whirlwind and Positive Jade. "Keeps trying to sneak up on me and stuff."

"Oh, she's not that bad, is she?" Ghost Roaster looked over at Cynder's counterpart interestedly. "She doesn't look all that bad."

"She is. Keeps trying to play jokes on me."

"Booga!" Positive and Negative Double Trouble exclaimed at the same time. Afterwards, they gave each other a dark look through slit eyes.

"I love freaky stuff and all, but I think this is a bit too much... Time for soda!" Positive Pop Fizz and Red Fizz exclaimed together, downing a bottle of soda. They began to turn into large beasts.

"Ugh, Pop Fizzi, enough with the soda," Negative Cynder said, rolling her eyes and imitating science vocabulary by adding 'i' at the end of Pop Fizz rather than 'es'.

Positive Cynder turned back to Ghost Roaster, a look of extreme exasperation in her eyes. "Was I like that... ever?"

"Yeah, when you first joined us," Ghost Roaster tilted his head in thought. "You changed once Ace started attacking. Guess that's when Ninjini began to really crack down on her jokes."

"No need to tell me twice," Cynder grumbled, getting up and looked around, probably for Riley.

"Yes! We can get home now?" Positive Spyro went over to the two tiki men.

"Oo-oog..." They had sounded like they were about to say some sort of 'yes', but then, the hole they had created quickly vanished. The two tiki men glared at each other.

"Boogie, oogaboo, chooga!" Positive Double Trouble shot at his negative counterpart.

"B-b-bigo! Dooga-googa!" Negative Double Trouble sounded almost speechless.

Positive Spyro rolled his eyes. "You two get along."

Ghost Roaster sighed and looked around. Where was his negative counterpart? He decided he'd take in some of his surroundings, hopefully finding the Negative Ghost Roaster in the process.

Negative Drobot was wearing his suit, but he had gold where blue was normally at on his suit, and blue where gold was normally at. He was talking with Positive Whirlwind and Positive Drobot by the cliff with the leaning tree. A little further down that hill, Positive and Negative Zap looked as though they were preparing for a race, as they were stretching and shooting each other challenging, but not unfriendly, looks.

Only a few feet away, Negative Chill, who had dark purple lips, while Positive Chill had dark blue lips, were debating over something. Positive Molta and Hot Dog were talking to Negative Camo and Hot Dog. Negative Camo had pale tangerine eyes, rather than red, and Negative Hot Dog had bronze lava running over him rather than bright red or yellow.

Ghost Roaster became elated upon finding Negative Hex, Negative Fright Rider, and a Negative version of himself talking with Positive Hex and Positive Eye-Brawl. Positive Ghost Roaster immediately went towards them, and gave an 'ahem' to announce he was there.

"So, you're my counterpart! Was wondering where you were!" Negative Ghost Roaster looked almost exactly the same, except his mace was golden. "So, that thing isn't working?"

"Am I the only one here who is still getting over the fact that there are doubles of us?" The secondary version of Rider said, looking between all of them nervously. Obviously, Negative and Positive Rider weren't all that different... "Anyone? No? Hey!" Rider suddenly yanked the reigns that connected him to Fright, and the ostrich gave an annoyed squawk.

"Don't mind him," the Negative version of Hex said. "So, erm... what's been happening over in your realm?"

"Bad things," Positive Ghost Roaster began cheerfully. "Hm... Ace, he was this big feathery dragon, he attacked us and killed Polarity, and then Geo, Cynder rescued Riley from him, and Bash had to go and track him down the other day, but he nearly had Fright kil-"

"SHUT UP!" Positive and Negative Hex both shouted at the same time. Ghost Roaster blinked at them. He didn't understand why either would be yelling at him, especially the secondary version of Hex. Positive Eye-Brawl backed away a bit and so did the Negative versions of Fright Rider and Ghost Roaster.

"Why? I was only answering," Ghost Roaster said.

"Fright?" The Negative Rider appeared to have a moment's panic flare in his ghostly white eyes. "What about Fright?"

"Nothing, Rider," Positive Hex growled. She floated towards Positive Ghost Roaster and pulled him aside, waving at the others as she left.

"What's wrong?" Ghost Roaster asked, tilting his head in confusion. "I don't get it..."

"There is a reason you shouldn't say anything about Fright getting blown to bits yesterday!" Hex hissed. "I was on that dinghy yesterday as we were leaving. There's something wrong about Rider... he told me something peculiar as well. Ghost Roaster, we have to figure out what's going on, because every time we mention Geo, it's like, Rider disappears and something demonic comes over him... yesterday in that dinghy, he would have loved to kill me and Cynder with his bare hands," Hex explained, sighing. "I didn't like seeing Fright blown apart either, and seeing Rider flat on his back was what really made me panic... but you should have seen Geo!"

"What are you trying to say? Hex, you're all over the place, I don't understand," Ghost Roaster shook his head. First, she was telling him something was wrong with Rider, the next moment, she was talking about the battle with Geo, and then Geo...

"I'm telling you, we have to find out what's wrong with Rider," Hex answered him. "Once we get back to our Citadel."

"Right," Ghost Roaster nodded his head. "But why me? Why not Cynder or Chop Chop or even Drobot, one of those braniacs might be able to understan-HEY! Give me those calamoi mushrooms, I've been needing those for a good recipe!" Positive Ghost Roaster cut himself off, rushing after Shroomboom, the Negative version, based on the facts that his usually red head was more of an orange color. Hex glared after him in annoyance.

"No! You will not cook my brethren!" Shroomboom declared, running over to a tree and stuffing the mushrooms into a hole at its base. He defiantly stood in front of the tree, crossing his arms.

"Pleeeaaase? I've been trying to make this special pizza for days and I need calamoi mushrooms!" Ghost Roaster whined.

"Pizza?!" Shroomboom squeaked. "F-fine take them!" He turned and rocketed away.

"Hahahaha!" Ghost Roaster laughed maniacally to himself. All anybody had to do to get Shroomboom to give them anything was to say 'pizza'. While Ghost Roaster felt it was a bit mean, he had needed these mushrooms for so long to make his special dish! He only took seven of them, which was all he needed, leaving the remaining four at the base of the tree.

"Hey, look, they've got it!" Wrecking Ball's high-pitched voice called from beside the two Double Troubles. The two gave each other a narrow look before happily stomping away from each other.

"Positive Skylanders!" Positive Eon, or, Positive Eon as far as Ghost Roaster knew, called across the parallel Citadel. "It is time we returned home. Negative Universe, we are happy to know you all, and I am sure we will meet again someday."

"More than likely," the Negative Spyro said, bowing. His black claws glinted in the sunlight.

"It's time we left, then," Positive Spyro said, extending his paw for his Negative Counterpart to shake hands-er, paws?-with him. They exchanged a friendly, yet respectful look, before turning away. "Skylanders! Time to go."

"Go where?" Negative Ghost Roaster looked up, his golden mace laying at his side.

"Nowhere," Negative Spyro told him, sitting next to the golden mace.

"Positive Skylanders, let's go!" Positive Spyro repeated himself.

Ghost Roaster looked around. He didn't want to leave yet! Where was Hex, anyway? She had wanted to tell him something...

He shrugged and followed suit. He enthusiastically jumped back into the hole, the light show starting immediately. Bright neon reds, blues, yellows, and greens whipped across his vision, thunderous booms and crackling seeming to echo around them.

Once again, the lights died away and so did the sounds, and they were replaced by the blinding sunshine of day, and then, that was blotched out as his face collided with the grass, shoving most of it into his mouth.

"UGH! Why does all the grass go into MY mouth?" Ghost Roaster grumbled, spitting out the blades of grass.

He looked up and moved out of the way as more Skylanders came ricocheting out of the hole.

Once they were all out, the hole began to glow, and then vanished with a loud, booming sound. Ninjini and Scarlett went over to it and looked around it curiously.

"I don't understand how his Eldritch Beam managed to do that," Ninjini frowned. She then began tearing away the stage and earth, and soon, the colorful hole reappeared!

"Just as I thought," Ninjini said.

"Ancient Arkeyan teleporter," Scarlett took up the statement. "The Arkeyans did used to control the magic source, so it's possible they managed to rig a few teleporters that led to separate dimensions..."

"Wow," Ghost Roaster said to himself.

"Spyro!"

Ghost Roaster turned and saw Fright Rider, Sonic Boom, and Whirlwind surrounding a small, indigo-colored dragon with black hair coming off his head and bright, neon red eyes. His tail ended without any sort of spearhead, and his claws had been run down so far that looked flat. He tentatively looked upwards.

"What? Who is that?" Spyro asked Whirlwind, glancing at the other indigo dragon.

"Won't talk," Whirlwind growled, flaring her wings.

Ghost Roaster curiously moved closer to hear better.

"What's your name?" Spyro asked the indigo dragon with slight sympathy in his voice.

"K-K-Kaz..." He said in a quiet tone, looking around nervously.

* * *

**Alright, so, logical? Illogical? Cool? Dumb? I was pretty nervous putting up this chapter as it was... kind of crazy to design. xD And the title of the chapter IS a parody of a Star Trek episode, but the thing is, I've never seen the episode, I just know that they met the opposite versions of themselves, the dudes on the crew of whatever its called... Enterprise, right? Meh, whatever.**

** i39 . tinypic o7ob4y . png - You're going to have to delete the spaces, but this will take you to an image I made of Riley. Yes, I know, I'm terrible. xD**

**Notes to:**

**Seraph of**** Enigma: You are awesome, and if it weren't for your reviews, this story would have died a long time ago. **

**xshadowclawx: Your last review really helped out as well! Thank you so much! :D**


	9. Illusion

_**Illusion**_

* * *

"Gill Grunt, watch where you point that thing!" Wham-Shell exclaimed, ducking his head. Gill Grunt turned around to look back at the crustaceous creature.

"What? What'd I do?" Gill Grunt asked him, flopping down in the grass. Wham-Shell sat his mace to the side and leaned on a rock, giving Gill Grunt an exasperated look.

"You've got a harpoon in your fins. Watch where you point it," Wham-Shell grumbled.

Gill Grunt was leaning against some rocks, the other water Skylanders standing around him, in a relatively secluded spot at the edge of the Citadel. It was just another day at the Citadel, everyone up to their usual, although mostly immature and unamusing, antics.

"Gill Grunt! Look what I found!" Trigger Happy came darting towards him, placing a pot of gold in between the gillman and the gremlin. "A whole pot of gold! Found it on Jade's Isle!"

"Jade's Isle? Since when did Jade own an isle-er, island?" Gill Grunt asked confusedly, shaking his head.

"No, no, it's not Jade's, it's just the name," Trigger Happy explained. "But look at all the-fool's gold?" He picked up the gray and gold rocks, before throwing them back into the bucket. "Curse you, leprechauns!"

"Fooled again?" Slam-Bam wandered over, holding in each of his hands a weight. He was always showing off his strength, even choosing to fight mostly with just his fists, although he occasionally used his ice powers.

"Yes," Trigger Happy pouted, pulling out one of his pistols and shooting at the brass pot, blasting a hole straight through it. Many of the rocks inside were shattered to fragments.

Chill, who was sitting a few feet away, polishing her ice javelin, flinched, and looked up with an annoyed look on her face. "Is that your answer to everything? Blast it?"

"YES!" Trigger Happy put a happier look on his face and jumped up. "What? Shooting is fun, hahaha!"

"If you're a mindless gremlin," Chill muttered under her breath.

"You leave Pop Fizz alone," Trigger Happy growled.

"I don't think it was Pop Fizz she was referring to," Zap laughed, zooming in circles around Chill. She groaned and gave in.

"Okay, I'll bite the hook. What is it you want, Zap?" She asked him, setting her ice javelin on the ground and crossing her legs.

He stopped and looked at her. "I wanted to know if you wanted to go to Sapphire Lake, you know, because, uh..." He looked around, his face flushing a dark indigo color. "S-so we could race! I mean, there is a lot of water there!" He beamed and shuffled his feet.

"Oy..." Riley walked by, shaking her head. "Have fun with your girlfriend, Major!"

"It's Zap and she's not my girlfriend!" Zap shouted at her.

"Then why not go with Slam-Bam or Flameslinger or maybe even Fright Rider?" She asked him.

Gill Grunt had to fight back the urge to laugh. Chill was fast, but Zap knew she wasn't fast enough to have even a prayer of beating him.

"B-because I wanted to... to race, and they're not fast enough," Zap turned away smugly. "Don't tell me you think Chill is slow, Riley."

"Gill Grunt, can we leave?" Trigger Happy asked. "I am so over hearing the bickering and arguing and-you know what I mean."

"Huh, wonder why Riley's not hangin' out with Cynder," Gill Grunt wondered aloud.

"Probably because she's being a pain in the tail," Chill said as Zap and Riley began to have a tease-fight. She returned to polishing her ice javelin. Gill Grunt and Trigger Happy turned around to look at her.

She got up from where she sat on the rock. "T'at's right, you two weren't here yet. Well, Cynder and Jade had blowout t'is morning. Cynder's been acting not very likable since."

"Ninjini been gettin' on her nerves again?" Gill Grunt asked, narrowing his eyes suspiciously.

"No, just Jade," Chill explained, walking up the hill that led to the leaning tree. She tensed and then threw her ice javelin.

It shattered into several bits, which came flying back at her. She did a cartwheel over one, and then dodged the other by ducking beneath it, and the last one she jumped over... Gill Grunt had to admit, her style was extremely graceful and beautiful. She then turned around and dashed after the pieces to her ice javelin, catching them from midair. She smirked to herself and put the fragments together, blowing ice-cold breath on them. They immediately froze back together, forming her ice javelin once more.

"Pretty and fast," Trigger Happy commented.

Gill Grunt smirked at him. "Might wanna put your tongue back in your mouth, bud, you're droolin'."

"Was not!" Trigger Happy closed his mouth tightly, his tongue inside.

"Was too," Gill Grunt poked him.

"Was not!" Trigger Happy defended himself.

"Whatever," Gill Grunt laughed. He then changed to a serious tone. "Hey! Ben played this cool song last night before he went to sleep, I wanna sing it! C'mon, please?"

"No way!" Trigger Happy ran and ducked behind a rock. "Don't sing, it might ruin my ears! I'm still hoping that when I'm sixty, I'll still be able to hear well!"

"None of ya are any fun," Gill Grunt said in a pouty tone, sitting down.

Gill Grunt suddenly heard a lot of commotion coming from the center of the Citadel. He prodded Trigger Happy's shoulder.

"C'mon, Trig, somethin's goin' on down at the Citadel," he said, scurrying away. He got there ahead of most of the others, and managed to get a good enough view of what was going down.

Ninjini and Kaz were glaring at one another. The small indigo dragon was pale-faced with fear, but he was still in a threatening stance. His violet wings were stretched wide in an attempt to make himself look larger, and he had extended his silver claws. His black hair was looking more unruly than usual.

Ninjini rushed at him with her wishblades clutched firmly in her hands, slashing the air around him. He yelped and only barely managed to dodge, the swords leaving deep scores into the ground.

Gill Grunt gaped. "Has she lost it?"

"NINJINI!" Spyro came running, throwing himself between Ninjini and Kaz. "What on Skylands is going on?" He exclaimed.

"Move your purple hide!" Ninjini shouted.

"Not until you explain to me what's going on!" Spyro growled.

"I can sense that he has an evil energy within him, Spyro, and he needs to either be annihilated or he needs to leave, along with that filthy piece of scum over there!" Ninjini gestured towards the brambles, where Thor was nervously watching the fight. "He is not to be trusted!" Something about Ninjini's tone was different. Though she said practically the same thing to many of the Undead Skylanders every day, she had never pulled her wishblades on them, nor had she ever tried to truly, physically harm anybody.

"That's the same thing you say to Cynder pretty much everyday, and what am I supposed to do, throw her out, too?" Spyro shot at her.

"NO! I tease Cynder! Cynder is a Skylander, but Thor and Kaz are NOT! They are evil! You must listen!" Ninjini yelled. She was obviously irritated and her eyes were glowing a strange purple color.

"Get behind me, Kaz," Spyro ordered.

"O-okay," Kaz gulped and practically slithered behind Spyro he was crawling so close to the ground. But then, Gill Grunt swore Kaz winked! Blinking, the gillman looked back at the small indigo dragon. He was looking as fearful as he had seconds ago. Gill Grunt shook his head, deciding it must have been his imagination.

"Spyro, you're making a mistake!" Ninjini tensed, her hands shaking so violently her swords were quivering.

"I've never seen Ninjini act like that before," Gill Grunt murmured to himself.

"Never seen Ninjini comment Cynder," Trigger Happy said, scratching his head. "I am confused..."

"Yeah, well, there's another mistake here, as well!" Spyro snarled. "Eon ever accepting you to return as a Skylander!" With that, Spyro led Kaz away from the magic giant's attention, allowing him to lay down in piece a few feet from the Core of Light.

Ninjini allowed her wishblades to disappear. She gritted her teeth when she spoke. "You'll regret that decision, Spyro. If you refuse to believe me, you'll regret it."

"Stow it, Ninjini," Spyro growled at her. He stalked away towards Cynder, who was flicking her gaze between Spyro and Ninjini.

Gill Grunt ran over to his friend. "Spyro, what was all that about? You weren't listenin' to a word Ninjini said!"

"Yes, that isn't a very good choice, Spyro, what if Ninjini is right?" Trigger Happy asked, his tongue lolling out again.

"Spyro, she hasn't been acting very mean to me lately, in fact, the other day she gave me a compliment," Cynder added in a concerned voice. "Are you sure you're okay?"

Spyro sat on his haunches, still glaring at Ninjini. She was now floating between Tree Rex and Scarlett, both of whom were trying to talk to her. She, however, wasn't having any of it. She suddenly zoomed downwards, and hid inside of her bottle. Spyro snorted scornfully at the sight and looked away.

"Ninjini says half the Skylanders here are evil, and that's mostly because their Undead elements, and other times, it's because they beat her at Orball," Spyro growled. "I'm not going to let her kick Kaz out. The poor guy's afraid of his own shadow!"

"True, but Spyro, it's only been a day, we don't have any idea what he's really like," Cynder pointed out.

"This is all Eon's fault!" Spyro suddenly burst. He opened his jaws and, using his flamethrower breath, burnt a circle into the grass around himself before curling up in a ball, his tail covering his muzzle, his wings covering most of his body.

"Eon?" Gill Grunt echoed in confusion.

"What in Skylands is he talking about?" Cynder asked Trigger Happy and Gill Grunt.

Gill Grunt averted her gaze. He didn't exactly trust Cynder, but he didn't see any reason not to. But then again, there wasn't any reason to trust her, either. Slam-Bam and Thumpback were highly prejudiced against her, and he didn't exactly want to have spats with either of them.

Trigger Happy didn't seem to be feeling any more comfortable than he was. The small, orange-brown gremlin turned away.

"Dunno," Gill Grunt answered the dragoness's question.

Cynder hissed and lashed her tail, curling up close to Spyro. She wasn't oblivious to their discomfort.

Gill Grunt and Trigger Happy sighed and turned away. It was confusing enough for Spyro to be yelling bad things about Eon, and even more confusing that he was unwilling to listen to anything his Skylanders had to say...

Gill Grunt decided there wasn't time to wait for Spyro to tell him what was wrong between him and Eon. He shook the purple dragon and Spyro turned to look at Gill Grunt. Gill Grunt was surprised to find Spyro's eyes bloodshot.

"What?" Spyro growled.

"Spyro... tell me... what's going on? Why are ya so mad at Eon?" Gill Grunt asked. It was better to know now than figure out in a dire situation later.

Spyro sighed and blinked, long and slowly. "Eon said he wouldn't be here forever... he said that I had to learn to be the leader of you guys, and that everyone had to mature by themselves. Long story short, Eon thinks we all need to mature without his help. He also said..." Spyro blinked again, and yawned. "...that he only chose not to move on when Kaos... you know... because he needed to help Ben and Sheila, our Portal Masters. But now that they know how to use our powers to keep Kaos at bay and whatnot, he didn't think Ben and Sheila needed him..."

Gill Grunt remembered that fateful day. When Kaos had come back to the Citadel, and had used his Hydra-dragon to destroy the Core of Light, Eon had refused to move from his place on the balcony... He had been killed in the blast, but had returned as a spiritual head.

Cynder lifted her head, and Trigger Happy turned back around. He took a seat next to Gill Grunt and Spyro.

"What are you saying, Spyro?" Cynder asked in a stone-cold voice. "How long has this been going on?"

"Eon, he... he left. He left. Last night."

"He did what?!" Cynder jumped, flaring her wings in shock. Gill Grunt and Trigger Happy uttered a gasp at almost the exact same time. After the calamity between the three Skylanders died down, Cynder spoke up.

"So, he's gone? What do you mean he left?" She demanded.

"He moved on. You know as well as I do that the only reason Eon or Hugo doesn't tell the Portal Master that Kaos actually killed him was so they didn't freak out," Spyro shook his head. "When you're a spirit, you have a choice: stay and live as a roaming spirit, or move on, never to be seen again. Polarity chose to leave. Why? Because she didn't want to hurt her sister worse than she already had, I could see that from a mile. But Eon's reasons..." Spyro shook his head. "He stayed with us for so long and then he just upped and left!" Spyro had to grit his teeth to stop himself from wailing like a lost dragonet.

Spyro clenched his jaw and laid down again. "I'm done talking. Goodbye."

Cynder sighed and looked at Gill Grunt and Trigger Happy. "It'd be best if you two left."

"You too," Spyro said, nudged Cynder with his tail.

"Why?" She asked him haughtily.

"Because I want to be alone right now," Spyro growled.

"Okay..." She glanced at him worriedly, but then sighed and walked away, heading towards Riley, who was talking with Zap and Chill.

Gill Grunt didn't want to leave Spyro alone with his thoughts. Gill Grunt had noticed that after Eon's death, the purple dragon had become a lot more serious and reserved. He didn't joke around quite as much, and often, his thoughts were always on battle plans or strategies. He had also noticed that he wanted to be alone a lot more.

"Well?" Spyro said, looking at him and Trigger Happy. "Why are you still here?"

Trigger Happy didn't need to be told again. He began to walk away, but Gill Grunt did not move.

"Y'know, when I met ya, there was a reason I became best friends with ya. It was because I respected the dragon that listened to everythin' anyone had to say. He never let anyone down, and he always had a plan for everythin'. All I wanna know is where he went." With that, Gill Grunt turned and followed Trigger Happy away, leaving Spyro gaping in shock after him.

Trigger Happy suddenly yanked on the gillman's arm. "Look!" He ran towards a small piece of paper lying on the ground. "It's a treasure map!"

"Found it myself."

Trigger Happy and Gill Grunt turned their heads to see Kaz walking towards them. His cowardly gait was gone, and his terrified expression had been replaced with a cool and collected look. Kaz shook himself slightly, his dusk-colored hair falling over his lavender-colored horns. "That map. I found it myself." He repeated.

"Wow! Why would you give it to me, though, you could make some serious GOLD with this thing!" Trigger Happy continued to go ecstatic over the map.

"As a way to say thanks," Kaz explained. He winked at Trigger Happy and then turned around, walking away. As he was walking towards Jade, she appeared to already be talking to him, even though he had already sat down...

` "Hi, Kaz," she fluttered her eyelashes.

"Hi, Jade," he said. With the flick of his tail, a burst of light appeared in front of Jade, but vanished as quickly as it appeared. Jade's eyes glossed over in some trance and it wasn't until Kaz snapped his fingers-er, claws? Toes?-in her face that she shook away the look in her eyes.

"Wow, Kaz, that was awesome! How'd you do that?" She asked him in awe.

"Ha, just a trick I learned from an old friend," Kaz smirked afterwards.

Gill Grunt's jaw was practically on the ground. With Trigger Happy too giddy over his treasure map and Jade too womanized to know what had just happened, Gill Grunt had been the only one to notice the huge change in demeanor in Kaz. Only a few moments earlier, he had been stuttering like an idiot, cowering from Ninjini! Now he was walking around with such a loose gait he almost looked like he owned the place!

"Gill, look at this map! It leads you right to the treasure!" Trigger Happy shook Gill Grunt by his jet-pack. "Come on, let's go, let's go, let's go!"

"Calm down," Gill Grunt told him, but the little gremlin was far too obsessed with the map to notice or care for what he said. Gill Grunt groaned. "Alright, alright, I'll take ya to go get this treasure. But Spyro'll have our heads if we don't take some others with us, y'know how he's gettin' about safety." To be honest, if Gill Grunt wasn't afraid of Geo finding them, he would have been happy to fly off with Trigger Happy and ignore the new rule that Spyro had made last night-that nobody leaves the Citadel without at least three with them.

"So, who should we pick?" Trigger Happy asked, only mildly interested.

"Somebody who knows Geo," Gill Grunt said. "So... I'd say Bash, and maybe Fright Rider."

"I'll go get them!" Trigger Happy immediately darted away, heading towards the place where Persephone's hut had once been (it had been demolished and used to help build the stage, but the stage had soon been removed) where Bash, Terrafin, Prism Break, Lightning Rod, and Drill Sergeant were talking.

"Terrafin, does Kaos still owe you five dollars?" Prism Break asked the dirt shark.

"'Course he does! Scoundrel never gave me it back!" Terrafin exclaimed. "Little midget will give it back to me one day though, I promise ya that. Wonder if they'll put that on my record..."

"Not like he could say 'no'," Lightning Rod said. "He's nothing all by himself! Just an ugly little man with an abnormally large head and ego."

"I almost feel bad he got sent to Earth before Terrafin could beat that five dollars out of him," Bash laughed. Trigger Happy then tapped him on the shoulder.

"Hi, Trig! What's up?" Terrafin exclaimed.

"Yeah, you're always tailing Gill, how come you're never over here with us?" Prism Break asked him in his deep voice, emphasizing his words by moving around his crystal hands.

"I just need to ask if Bash can come with me and Gill 'cause I found this awesome place with treasure on it!" Trigger Happy said excitedly, showing them the map. "See? See? See?"

Bash blinked at the map. "Er, that's probably just the map to Auric's Pirate game he can't sell."

"No it isn't! Or else it'd have the logo on it," Trigger Happy said. "But you know what Spyro said last night, so-"

"Can we hurry up?" Gill Grunt asked. "The sky's startin' to get dark. You know at nine we get pulled off the Portal."

"True," Bash sighed. "Who else is going?"

"We thought maybe Hex, Fright Rider, or Stealth Elf, since they all have experience fightin' Geo. Need to stay safe," Gill Grunt explained.

"Well, I'll go, but Rider isn't going," Hex's voice came out of the blue.

Trigger Happy flinched and then looked back at her. "Why is it that you're always listening in on conversations!" The statement was more of an irritated exclamation than a question. "Why can't Fright Rider go?"

"Because... he can't," she paused for a second, but then answered in a way that told Gill Grunt that the conversation was over.

Bash sighed. "Well, we'd best get going then. The sun's set and at nine we're taken off the Portal."

Gill Grunt looked around the Citadel. Kaz was sleeping next to Jade, Flashwing, and Dino-Rang, who were all sitting around the base of the Tree of Life. Ghost Roaster was watching Chop Chop and Rider, who were charging at each other. Chop Chop had his sword raised and pointed straight forward while Rider had his spear pointed straight forward.

The sword and spear met, and the two were locked in a position where only strength would prevail.

Gill Grunt looked away from them and began to stare at Kaz again. He was still confused as to the indigo dragon's demeanor earlier...

"Gill Grunt, are we leaving or what?" Hex called.

"We're leaving," Gill Grunt answered, turning to follow them.

"It sure was nice of Flynn to leave his dinghy at the Citadel," Trigger Happy commented. He then whipped out the map and began obsessing over it again. "But I still can't wait to see what kind of treasures are at this place!"

Gill Grunt nodded. The pilot, Cali, Auric, Brock, and Fangs had all left on the Dread-Yacht to travel Skylands, and had left the dinghy at the Citadel in case it needed to be used again. Gill Grunt sighed and looked over the side of the dinghy. He was still thinking about Spyro.

He had changed so much since the moment they had first met...

_"Spyro, Cynder, I'd like you to meet two of the Skylanders that will be of service to you," Eon said, opening the door of his house that led to the deck and Portal. The deck had checkerboard tiling on it, and a purple dragon with large, orange horns and spines going down his back was standing there. He had bright red eyes._

_Cynder had dark violet scales with a rack of silver horns coming off her head. Her eyes were ice-blue, and she had the mark of the undead on her forehead. Her chest and underbelly had pink scales, and her tail ended with a metallic spearhead. Her wings had spearheads about midway through them as well._

_Gill Grunt walked through the door, Trigger Happy at his side. He bowed to the purple dragon, and then looked up. "I've heard a lot about ya. I'm Gill Grunt, or Gill for short, and this is Trigger Happy, or Trig for short."_

_Spyro nodded. "It's nice to meet you both," he said, dipping his head in equal respect. "Master Eon says that there is a lot I can learn from both of you."_

_Spyro smiled at them both warmly, pointing at two spots next to him. "Come on, sit. I don't bite, I just spit fire," he laughed._

What had happened to that Spyro? The one who wanted to crack a joke every second he got, or even be friendly?

"Trig, are you sure you're reading that map right?" Hex asked calmly, although her wide eyes spoke a very different tone.

Gill Grunt glanced over to her. "What's wrong?"

"Yeah, of course I'm reading it right! What do I look like, an airhead or something?" Trigger Happy said. "Why?"

"Because this is Geo's home island!" Hex shot at him.

Gill Grunt looked over the bannister. She was right. Below them, the sand dragon was talking, albeit in a very angry tone, with another, smaller dragon. Bash swerved the steering wheel in the opposite direction, but it was no use.

Geo had spotted them.

"Oi, look! It's the Skylanders! Back for more, are ya?" Geo smirked. Gill Grunt watched in horror as he appeared to explode, and a sandstorm burst to life.

Coughing, Gill Grunt looked around. "We have to get outta here! Bash-"

"I'm trying!" Bash called, spluttering. "I can't see!"

"Why are we trying to get away?" Hex growled, her glowing white eyes the only thing visible through the sandstorm. "Operimentum Operculum!"

The balloon holding the dinghy up began to glow as well. Gill Grunt felt dread tear at him. Spyro and Eon hadn't listened when they had insisted that Hex shouldn't have become a Skylander, but they had insisted she be one! Now they were going to pay the price. The gillman shut his eyes.

Hex held up her right arm, pointing it straight forward. Calmly, she shouted, "Harena subsisto!"

The sandstorm immediately stopped. Geo reformed himself and began coughing like mad. Gill Grunt opened his eyes. Hex still had her arm raised, and her eyes were still glowing, as was the balloon. When she spoke, her voice appeared to have an echo, as though more than one person was speaking at one time. "Bash, take us down!"

"No, Hex, we've stopped him this time, but we have to go back!" Bash told her. "We can't fight him again! We might really lose somebody this time!"

Hex glared at him, her eyes narrowing. "DO AS I SAY!"

"No," Bash responded with a false conviction in his voice. He turned the steering wheel and forced the dinghy in the opposite direction.

"Pareo ego-" Before Hex could finish her incantation, Gill Grunt felt he had to do something to stop her. She couldn't be allowed to continue her fit of rage. Thinking quickly-something nobody thought he could do-he grabbed his harpoon gun and slammed it into the back of Hex's head. Hard. The balloon and her eyes stopped glowing.

Gill Grunt felt all the color drain from his face. He had just hurt Hex! Another Skylander!

"Fools!" Geo appeared in midair. He laughed loudly. "Do ya really think I'm gonna let ya leave?"

"Yes!" Bash snarled, opening his jaws, launching several rocks at the sand dragon.

Gill Grunt began spraying the large dragon with water. Geo screeched and got out of his range, and what Gill Grunt saw next, he'd never forget. Geo was melting. Melting like a vampire in sunlight. The places where water had hit him (his chest, shoulder, and side) were losing sand.

"Look at what ya've done!" Geo screeched. He flapped his wings and landed on his island, where he stopped 'melting'. He turned and glared at the Skylanders. "You'll pay!" He hissed, shooting a sandball at them.

Bash managed to steer the dinghy out of the line of fire, and sped away from the place.

It was a long time before anybody spoke. Hex was still unconscious on the floor. Bash was the first to speak.

"Who gave you that map?" He demanded in a grave tone of voice without even looking at Trigger Happy.

Trigger Happy was staring at Hex with a ghostly look in his eyes, as though he'd just seen something horribly scarring. Gill Grunt bit his lower lip. Trigger Happy had just seen something extremely scarring... Especially for one so young... Trigger Happy was only thirteen years old. He was a Skylander due to his gold hunting, which usually led him to towns fraught with enemies that he always fought off, usually without bothering to aim...

Gill Grunt sat down next to his gremlin friend.

Trigger Happy answered Bash only with a whispered word. "Kaz."

Bash snorted scornfully. "Couldn't have been! He was with Jade and Flashwing all morning!"

"No, he wasn't!" Gill Grunt said. "Right after the spat with Ninjini, he gave Trig that map and THEN went off with Jade, Flashwing, and Dino-Rang."

"You must be hallucinating or something, because after he fought with Ninjini, he walked off with Flashwing and Jade. Dino-Rang joined them later. I saw you two; you were standing over by some rocks, a few feet away from Spyro and Cynder, talking," Bash snorted again. "You two must have gotten your brains scrambled in the sandstorm."

"We're not lying!" Trigger Happy spoke up.

"Well, I don't see how you're telling the truth, either," Bash frowned. "I'll have a talk with Jade and Flashwing and see if Kaz was with you guys before we all left. But I'm telling you, he was with them all morning..."

Hex woke up about halfway back to the Citadel. She rubbed the back of her head, and floated back into the air. "Wha... what happened?" She asked a bit groggily.

"You tell us!" Gill Grunt pushed Trigger Happy behind him. Bash grumbled something to himself and continued to pay attention to steering the dinghy. "You went all crazy and started yellin' spells and stuff, made the balloon glow, your eyes glow, the sandstorm stop-you were gonna do somethin' to Bash, before I knocked ya out!" Gill Grunt exclaimed.

Hex closed her eyes and looked away. "I'm sorry... Malefor's corruption..."

"Just like Cynder," Trigger Happy muttered under his breath.

Hex shot him a dangerous glare before turning away and staring at nothing.

Back at the Citadel, Gill Grunt realized that it was dark out. It had to be getting close to nine o'clock.

Bash landed the dinghy on the pedestal Flynn had made for it a long time ago, the white one with the pillars. They tumbled out of the tight fit, Hex heading straight towards Fright Rider, Chop Chop, Ghost Roaster, Cynder, and Riley. They were all crowded around the brambles, shooting Thor furtive glances.

Gill Grunt and Trigger Happy were about to head in the opposite direction, but Bash stopped them. "Come on, we have to go tell Spyro what happened."

"Can't it wait?" Gill Grunt sighed. "To be honest, I just wanna sleep."

"That's what nine o'clock is for," Bash reprimanded him. "Now come on."

Gill Grunt and Trigger Happy yawned at the same time, and shuffled after the rock dragon.

Spyro was staring at the Core of Light. It was like his new hobby. He looked at Gill Grunt and Trigger Happy with an almost pleading look as they got closer, but when Bash began to speak, he quickly looked away, regaining his composure and closing his eyes.

"Spyro, somebody gave Trigger Happy a map that led straight to Geo's island, somebody set us up," Bash explained. "And... well... there... there was an incident with Hex... but we managed to figure out Geo's weakness, and boy, it's so obvious I could go throw myself off the edge of the island... water."

Spyro gaped. "You're kidding. Water? WATER?"

"Yep," Gill Grunt chimed in. "I hit him with some, and he started meltin' like a witch!"

Spyro's face turned a lot more serious. "The incident with Hex. Tell me."

Gill Grunt shuffled his feet. "She went all crazy, started shoutin' spells and charms and almost did somethin' to Bash..." Gill Grunt trailed off. He did not want to say he had had to hurt Hex in order to stop her.

"He had to knock her out in order to get her to stop," Trigger Happy took up the statement.

Spyro nodded. "Hex was corrupted by Malefor, like Cynder. She is just as much as an outsider as Cynder, but nobody ever notices because Hex is a lot... well, quieter about it. She also isn't the girlfriend of the leader of the Skylanders, heheh," Spyro chuckled half-heartedly. He cleared his throat and returned to his serious voice tone. "But yes. Hex can lose her temper from time to time... but she is still invaluable to us, and I am not running her out of the Skylanders."

Gill Grunt could feel the air between him and his once-upon-a-time-friend. It was heavy and oppressive. He refused to meet Spyro's gaze. "Spyro, Kaz gave us that map."

"Kaz?" Spyro blinked, looking dumbfound. "That's weird... I never saw him with you guys this morning, he was with Jade and Flashwing all morning..."

Gill Grunt and Trigger Happy gasped, looking between Spyro and Bash. "Neither of you saw him with us?" Trigger Happy finally spoke up.

"No," Spyro answered. "Are you both okay?"

Gill Grunt allowed his feelings from earlier to get in his way. Spyro wasn't being fair lately. Now he was refusing to believe what he and Trigger Happy knew was fact?

Gill Grunt stepped in front of Trigger Happy, enabling him to cover the gremlin's mouth without either Bash nor Spyro noticing. He then said, "Nope. Must've been our imagination, Spyro. We found it over by some rocks... probably just a coincidence."

Gill Grunt turned and led Trigger Happy away. Once out of Spyro's earshot, they began to argue.

"Gill Grunt, you saw it as well as I did, Kaz gave us that map!" Trigger Happy exclaimed, outraged. "Why would you lie to Spyro?! What has he done to you?!"

"Not to me," Gill Grunt answered. "To others." He pointed at Ninjini, who was still in her bottle. The fancy bottle was placed against a rock that Scarlett was leaning on as she talked to Bouncer.

"Still! Spyro could have probably figured out what was going on!" Trigger Happy shook his head. "What is wrong with you?"

"I think the others might be right, now you just be quiet," Gill Grunt finally snapped, guilt gnawing at him. Trigger Happy was probably right... Spyro might have been able to figure it out...

But a fresh wave of anger at the purple dragon caused him to bite his tongue and selfishly make up his mind: he wouldn't say another word about it.

* * *

**Did anybody ever notice Gill Grunt in the first Skylanders trailer, "The Beginning"? He seemed kind of dim, didn't he? Well, I thought I'd throw in a twist and make him like... this. xD**

**And Trigger Happy's a gold hunter. x3**


	10. It's Cold At the Top

_**It's Cold At the Top**_

* * *

Chill took a deep breath, and opened her eyes, staring at the tree. She was at the farthest reach of the Citadel, trying to perfect her Call of the Narwhal... There was no way she could conjure her narwhal friend if she didn't concentrate.

The grass swayed innocently at her feet. Irritated, she concentrated harder, and then yelled, "_Narwhal!_"

A wave of water splashed her, but nothing more. She groaned in aggravation, and began to shiver. "I'm obviously not strong enough or somet'ing," she murmured to herself. Closing her eyes, she thought hard. All she had to do to call her narwhal friend was to concentrate, and the wave and unicorn of the sea would be conjured... It was the most powerful and ancient trick from her ice kingdom...

"Hiya, Chill!"

Startled, Chill fell backwards. She looked up at Zap with an annoyed look and shot at him, "What now, Zap?"

Looking stung, he recoiled a bit. "Sorry... just wanted to say 'hi.'"

Chill sighed and stood up, brushing the dust off her suit. She hadn't meant to be so harsh, but he had surprised her. "No, I am sorry Zap. Anyway, what is wrong?"

"Well, Ghost Roaster made some great pancakes and eggs this morning, and I was wondering if you wanted some. You've been up here training for an hour straight, take a break," Zap said, his eyes narrowed in concern. "I think you might be pushing yourself too hard, Chill."

She broke her gaze away from him. She found that she could never lie to Zap if she looked him in the eye. "No, Zap, I am fine. I just want to train."

"Chill, you can always train, but come on, you need to eat," he tagged her and darted away, shaking his tail like a puppy trying to play with its owner. "Please?"

She groaned and looked away. "Why do you always do t'at puppy dog t'ing?" She demanded as she began to walk over to him. "Alright, alright, I will eat some of t'ese pancakes and eggs." He practically did a flip and slid ahead of her.

Chill took note of what everyone was doing. Ninjini had been uncharacteristically quiet lately, doing nothing but really glaring at Thor and Kaz, talking only with Scarlett. Both sisters had been very quiet lately, Chill realized. And if Spyro was anywhere within a ten-foot radius of them, they would move, and if they couldn't, they'd retreat into their bottles. At the moment, the two sisters had been talking to each other by the stairs that led to the beach.

Tree Rex, Crusher, and Swarm were talking about someone named Kelvin, and Swarm wasn't looking very cheerful about the conversation. In fact, he looked close to tears. Bouncer and Hot Head were playing a makeshift Roboto-Ball game with a lava ball that looked like it came from Eruptor. Thumpback, Eye-Brawl, and Granite were laughing about something, all the while eating some food that Ghost Roaster had most likely prepared.

Hex was hovering by Hugo and Flynn's new cabin, which was about ten or so feet away from the dinghy's landing pedestal. Flynn had returned to the Citadel yesterday, saying that he was being chased down by the Cutthroat Carnival pirates (they weren't). Hugo and Flynn were sitting on the porch, watching alongside Hex as Chop Chop and Rider dueled. Fright was eating some grass a few feet away, looking up at the battle every few seconds, as though only mildly interested.

Cynder, Riley, and Spyro were laying down by the Core of Light, talking in hushed whispers. Kaz, Jade, and Flashwing were all sitting by the brambles. Chill looked at them and realized that Kaz was talking to Thor! Jade and Flashwing appeared not to care, as they were also talking to the feathered dragon and Kaz.

Chill shook it off. If Spyro was going to keep holding Thor captive, then eventually some of the Skylanders would start talking to him. But Chill still found it odd that Jade and Flashwing would be the first, accounting the way they treated Cynder and Hex.

Sonic Boom was standing on the edge of the island, Jet-Vac next to her, and she appeared to be trying to teach her four griffon babies how to fly. She spread her navy-blue wings and took off, flying in a small circle before landing back on the island. Jet-Vac said something to Mayflower, Sonic Boom's only female youngster, and she giggled.

Lightning Rod and Prism Break were having some sort of contest or something, with Bash, Dino-Rang, and Warnado watching close by. Prism Break conjured a crystal and had it fall into the ground, and then Lightning Rod summoned a lightning bolt, which struck the crystal, blasting it apart. Shard of the crystal began to fall around them, each piece shimmering in the sunlight. It was a truly beautiful sight, as it dazzled her. Each tiny shard looked like a piece of starlight. _Huh, _Chill thought, _t'ey must have wanted t'at to happen..._

Hot Dog and Molta were standing at the top of the staircase that led to the beach. They gave each other a challenging glance, before running at full speed down the stairs. Chill rolled her eyes at the sight. Molta and Hot Dog were always racing or doing some other kind of stupid stunt, such as a Ding Dong Ditch contest or a contest to see how long they could stay in the air and spin without throwing up.

Looking over the railing, Chill saw Stealth Elf and Flameslinger sitting on the stone block in the sea. Flameslinger suddenly jumped up, pulling an arrow from his backpack. Using his bow to aim, it began to flame. He shot the arrow, and it speared a fish.

Stealth Elf awed at his catch. "I still have no idea how you do that, with those blindfolds on," she said quietly.

"Easy!" Flameslinger responded, grinning. "The fire at the end of the arrow-wherever it's pointing, I can see. Plus, everything that lives has some sort of fire energy inside them," he explained. "Like, you're a Life element, so yours isn't as red hot as a Fire element's, and I can tell it's you because it's also not too dim, and it blazes strongly, but only when needed... kind of like it's sneaky. Just like you."

Chill felt like throwing up. She'd never heard anything more cheesy in her life. Beyond them, Slam-Bam, Wham-Shell, Gill Grunt, and Trigger Happy were playing in the water. Slam-Bam was 'surfing' across the water with his ice surfboard, and Wham-Shell was riding his mace like a surfboard. Gill Grunt was actually swimming through the water, although he was making sure to steer clear of Stealth Elf and Flameslinger (probably because Flameslinger had just speared a fish without a second thought). Trigger Happy was setting up some pots.

After setting them up, the little gremlin turned around and then whipped out his pistols, firing like mad at the pots. He blasted all four of them apart.

"We're here!"

Chill snapped back to the present, finding herself in front of the Tree of Life. Ghost Roaster was sitting in a chair behind a wide, long, white table. Camo was watching several plants a few feet away, Shroomboom observing. Stump Smash was talking with Zook just about a foot away from him.

Whirlwind and Drobot were also sitting at the table. The table had pancakes and eggs on it, just as Zap had said.

"So, you came for some food, eh? I was wondering when you were going to come down here, Chill," Ghost Roaster commented, handing her a plate. "Oh, and you mind taking some to Spyro? He won't take any from me. Keeps snapping at me."

Chill was deeply troubled by this. Spyro had never been the type to be depressed about anything, and he always loved a good meal. Though Chill never hung out with Spyro in particular, she had been around Gill Grunt and Trigger Happy often... but then again, they hadn't been hanging out with the purple dragon a lot lately, either...

Chill nodded, picking up the extra plate. "I will, Ghost Roaster." Zap explained to Ghost Roaster that he had already eaten, and followed her.

Once Chill got closer to Spyro, she noticed that Spyro wasn't talking a lot. "Spyro?" Chill interrupted Cynder and Riley's hushed conversation.

Spyro did not look up at her. "What is it?" He asked.

"I brought you some food," she said.

"Don't want any," he growled.

"Well, I'm not leaving until you eat it, so oh well," Chill stubbornly sat down close to them, setting the plate on the ground and sitting down next to it. She pulled her ice javelin off her belt and chipped the tip off of it, and fractured it into several pieces. She remodeled it to make it like a fork, and then blew chilling breath onto it, freezing the components together. She began to eat her food right there, refusing to move.

Zap laid down next to Riley. Chill could never seem to get him to be more than two feet away from her. He cleared his throat. "So, uh, Riley, what were you and Cynder talking about?" He said clumsily.

"Nothing important," Riley shrugged.

_Liar, _Chill thought. It was quite obvious it must have been something serious, or they wouldn't have been so quiet about it, and they wouldn't have stopped talking the second Zap and her got close.

Spyro turned his head to look at them. He flicked his tail. "Cynder, Riley, Zap, leave."

Cynder scornfully eyed him. "And why should I listen to that?" She asked. Riley bowed to him and nodded, leading Zap away. The male water dragon glanced back at Chill before continuing on with his sister.

"Fine... you stay here, then..." Spyro muttered. He looked straight at Chill, and she nearly choked on her food when she saw his eyes. They were bloodshot and he looked as though he hadn't slept for days. "Chill, I'm not hungry, you can tell Ghost Roaster to stop being a pain in the tail."

Cynder hissed and lashed her tail. "Liar," she spat. "You're starving. You've been acting like this since Trigger Happy and Gill Grunt stopped talking to you."

"Well, if Eon hadn't left-" Spyro was cut off by Chill actually choking on her eggs. She coughed and sputtered, spitting it out.

"Eon's left?" She echoed hollowly.

"Yeah," Spyro said glumly. "Eon left three days ago. Said it was his time to move on, that we had to mature on our own." Spyro curled his lip, revealing his sharp fangs. "Nonsense!" He snarled.

"Spyro, calm down," Cynder told him. "Will you just eat?"

"Why?" Spyro looked at her, and Chill could tell it took everything the dark dragoness had not to flinch. "I feel like everybody has a reason to hate me. Gill Grunt and Trigger Happy were my best friends, and they want nothing to do with me now. Ninjini and Scarlett are more rebellious than ever. And sometimes, I'm not even able to be fair to you," Spyro said in a hollow tone to Cynder.

"Not that I think Ninjini was right, but Spyro, we don't know much about Kaz, except that he can't remember a thing about where he came from," Cynder sighed in exasperation. "Come on, you can't completely trust him yet."

"Well, I'm not going to throw him out based on her word!" Spyro shot Ninjini and Scarlett a glare. "If those two are telling the truth, it's their fault I don't believe them. They're just like teenagers. Deceptive, gossip-crazy, and most of all, untrustworthy. If I believed everything those two said, then Wrecking Ball would have been kicked out in April because Ninjini thought he was evil for accidentally swallowing Pop Fizz's potion bag!"

"But Spyro, has she ever drawn her swords on anybody before? Has she ever, well... looked t'at serious?" Chill interrupted their conversation.

Spyro bared his teeth. "I don't like Ninjini, or Scarlett," he said finally. "And I'm not listening to a word they have to say."

With that, he kicked his plate of food away, and flopped back onto the ground, curling up and trying to fall asleep.

Chill and Cynder exchanged a concerned glance. Cynder sighed and laid down next to Spyro. "You'd better go," Cynder whispered to her.

Spyro hissed. "Don't patronize me!" He turned around and glared at Cynder.

Cynder backed away at first, but then got right in his face, unsheathing her teeth and speaking with a stone-cold voice. "I'm trying to help you, how dare you yell at me!"

Spyro gave into the childish urge to fight back. "You wouldn't understand what I have to do!"

"Yeah, because you never explain it to anybody!" Cynder sank her claws into the ground. "You know what, if you want to be a depressed psychopath, be my guest!" She whipped around and proudly walked away, taking a seat next to Riley and Zap who were at the tree next to where Persephone's hut used to be.

Chill decided she would be better off leaving before she was yelled at, too. She walked off in the direction of the beach.

She was lost in thought as she slowly meandered down the staircase. Hot Dog and Molta waited for her to finish walking down the stairs before they began rushing back up it again.

She walked past Flameslinger and Stealth Elf, and the Water Skylanders, before coming to her destination-Flynn's ship.

The pilot had been staying with Hugo lately, and had docked his ship on the beach. Cali was living in a new hut with Persephone, of which the Earth Skylanders had built for them (using the remnants of the stage). However, Brock had insisted on staying in the ship alongside Fangs.

She had heard stories from the other Skylanders that Brock had challenges Skylanders could take at illegal arenas. She had heard Terrafin, Slam-Bam, Sunburn, and several others talking about it before, and though at the time she had thought it was a horrible idea, she knew now why they would put their lives at risk for such measly and gruesome entertainment.

It wasn't for the entertainment at all. It was because the challenges made that Skylander stronger.

In order to get onto Flynn's ship, the person would have to cross a long, narrow boardwalk that led from the ship to the ground. Chill confidently strided from the bottom of the boardwalk to the top of the ship.

"Brock?" Chill called out onto the boat.

The goliath drow was sitting at a table, Fangs across it, and the two looked to be playing Skystones. Fangs held up a hooked hand.

"Arr! Ye be cheatin', sez I!" Fangs called. "Grenade Generals don't have that many blades, sez I!"

"What?! You dare call me a cheater, you salty seadog?" Brock exclaimed. "No way! Brock doesn't cheat."

"Right, so how does your Grenade General have five blades on every side, then?" Fangs snorted. "Ye don't cheat when ye play with Fangs, ye see!"

"Yeah? Why not?" Brock flipped the table sideways, sending the cards flying.

"'Cause you don't cheat on a man who's got a hook for a hand!" Fangs shouted, putting his glimmering hook right in Brock's face. The goliath drow smiled nervously and backed away.

"Heheh... point taken..." He picked the table back up. "Right. So, anyways, new game?"

"Sorry to interrupt," Chill said abruptly, tapping her foot irritably, "but I'd like to speak with Brock."

Brock put on a smug grin and whispered something to Fangs. The seadog grunted and picked up the table, dragging it into the other room. Brock sat on the bare ground of the ship. "So, what can I do for ya? Don't got all day, y'know, girlie."

Chill flashed out her ice javelin quicker than lightning, placing it at Brock's throat. "Never, _ever, _call me girlie," she said in a deathly tone. He blinked at her. Chill put her ice javelin back on her belt. "Now, I hear talk about 'arena challenges'. I must challenge several of these 'arenas.'"

"Ha! Why didn't ya say so? Brock's arena challenges are always open, 'specially to Skylanders! It's fun knowin' even heroes break the law every now and again," Brock grinned devilishly. "That knucklehead Flynn leaves the keys to this blasted thing in the captain's helm all the time. Ya think the guy would realize what goes on by now, but eh, whatever."

Brock heaved himself to his feet and wandered up the stairs to the front of the boat. He got to the control room of the ship, and began fiddling with the buttons. "Well, first, ya gotta flip this switcheroo and then do sumthin' to this doohicky here, and then flip the key... and we're off!"

Chill wondered whether she should have grabbed a rail before Brock started messing with the controls. The ship heaved and vibrated, roaring to life like an almighty beast. It rocked back and forth as it took off, leaving nothing but spiraled clouds in its wake. All the Skylanders on the beach had merely glanced at the ship, expecting Flynn to be at the head of it, but everyone at the main part of the Citadel looked a little confused.

The boat stopped shaking and heaving. Chill stumbled over to the side of the deck and grabbed the side railing, feeling her stomach churn.

Brock came back down from the captain's helm. "Well! That was fun, wasn't it?"

"Yeah, fun like a hernia," Chill muttered, before vomiting over the side of the ship.

"Hey! I'm not that bad, am I!?" Brock's question could have been a question or an exclamation, with the way he said it.

"You're worse t'an Hugo wit'out his glasses! And he's got t'e vision of a molekin wit'out t'em!" She was trying to shout, but she was forced to keep her head over the side of the ship, or she was going to be seasick on the floor of the boat.

"Hey, for your information, Molekin have pretty good eyesight since you guys found the Eye of Crystal Clarity or whatever it was," Brock pouted.

Chill would have loved to use his face as a javelin aiming board, but she was preoccupied with throwing up over the side of the ship. After doing so for the fifth time, she backed away and felt as though she might feel better.

"If just a lil' boat ride can make ya that sick, ya might wanna turn around now," Brock wagged a finger in her face. "Trust me, girlie, these things ain't for the faint-hearted."

"What did you call me?" Chill growled at him.

"Er-ma'am, I mean, sir, I mean, ma'am...!" He shut his mouth, covering it with his hands.

Chill smiled sweetly. "T'at's what I thought you said. Now, when do we get to t'is arena?"

"Should be there in about ten or fifteen minutes," Brock mumbled, walking back to the captain's helm. He placed his hands on the steering wheel and Chill immediately grabbed the railing on the side of the ship, feeling queasy just at the thought of him steering the ship.

"Hey! Princess! Wake up!"

Chill blinked and looked up. Brock was towering over her, his horned hat hanging slightly to the side. He sat her upright and grinned deviously. "Welcome, Chill, to my Rumbletown Arena!"

He backed up and Chill gasped upon recognizing where she was. She was standing on a circular platform with a vent in the center, red bricks making up the platform's structure. Around the platform was a dangerous pit that, if you fell into, you weren't likely to get back out of. Looking beyond those, she gulped.

Rows and rows of mohawk cyclopses and bag-o'-booms were watching. She strained her ears beneath her helmet, and she could hear them chanting her name, although they were horribly out of sync.

Chill noticed that there was an elongated platform in between the two large sets of bleachers. Brock, using his incredible jumping power, leapt from the right side bleachers onto the platform. He raised an arm and clenched his fist. "LET THE BATTLE BEGIN!"

Chill pulled her shield close in front of her, brandishing her ice javelin and holding it at the ready. Chill looked back and forth, and noticed two runways on either side of the platform. An ugly, orange troll with a blue shirt and huge mace leapt off of it from one side, and a bunch of tiny, green chompies jumped from the other runway.

The Mace Major came running at her, his mace high above his head. Chill ducked out the way and struck out her foot, causing the Mace Major to trip and fall on his own mace. She knew this move was low, but she had to defeat them, right?

The Mace Major stood back up, though. It looked undamaged, except for some scratches on its shirt. Chill felt a searing pain in the back of her right leg and, looking back, she realized it was a chompy.

"Off, pal!" She kicked her foot and sent it flying. She did a cartwheel to get away from the Mace Major, and then shot her ice javelin at it. It slashed him and her ice javelin rounded back and came back at her by itself (Dino-Rang had helped make her javelins like boomerangs).

Another chompy clamped down on her left foot, and then more came at her. Chill thought hard and shouted, "_Gelu!"_

Ice walls burst from the ground, throwing the chompies off her. Chill took a quick peek at her foot. It was bloody from the bites she had received.

"What, you want a congratulatory muffin basket? Not gonna happen! Get her, boys!" Brock shouted, waving his armored arm.

Chill staggered to her feet. "Come and get me!"

From the left came a Bark Demon, a huge, mutated tree. It could eat chompies to restore health, and had the power to send trees shooting through the ground at enemies. From the right, a Root Runner dashed in and planted itself firmly in the ground. It began spitting out chompies like mad.

The Bark Demon roared and slammed its fists into the ground. Chill could feel the ground shaking and hear the earth shaking apart as the tree tore through the ground.

She heard a chompy snarl and turned to see the little green creature as it leapt at her arm, tearing open a hole in her armor, leaving a nasty bite mark.

The tree the Bark Demon had sent her way shot upwards, and clocked her in the face, leaving a long gash on her cheek. She began swinging her ice javelin around at the chompies, destroying all of them, but she had lost her cool and couldn't think straight. She was exhausted already!

"LAAAME!" Brock booed from his post.

"Someone's lame, and it isn't me!" Chill shouted at him.

Chill wiped the blood off her cheek and looked around. The Bark Demon was glaring at her from the other side of the arena.

Chill charged at it, her feet stamping over the brick flooring. She soon reached the vent, and felt an unconventional heat coming from it. It felt like an oven! Her ice javelin beginning to melt, she tried to run away from the vent, but she wasn't fast enough.

A blazing inferno erupted from the vent, catching the backside of her suit, melting half of her ice javelin away, and giving her easy third degree burns. Chill gave a scream of pain and toppled over, panting. She couldn't fight any longer, not in this place...

"Alright, boys, enough, I think she's had enough," Brock called out.

Chill heaved a sigh of relief and passed out.

"Come on, up and on your feet," Brock patted the side of Chill's face that was unscathed, and she blinked awake. Confused as to where she was, she sat up and looked around.

She was back on Flynn's ship, which had landed on the beach back at the Citadel. She rubbed the back of her head, and immediately stopped upon feeling a searing pain there. She examined her hand. It had silver on it... the pain from her helmet!

She pulled off her helmet and looked at the back of it. It had been scorched, and the pain was melting off. Setting it back over her blonde hair, she began to remember what had happened.

"Brock, how am I going to get back into the Citadel like t'is? I stick out like sore t'umb!" Chill exclaimed, "And I've got blood all over my face and legs."

"Here, clean up," Brock threw her a rag that looked like it had been previously stained with blood and other substances, as it had stains of every color on it, but most prominent was red and orange. "I can fix your suit," Brock told her, walking back towards the Game Room. The red door swung open as he neared it, and the goliath drow cursed under his breath as he ducked and barely managed to squeeze into the door.

Chill looked at her feet and felt an instant wave of anger. Her feet looked as though they'd been torn apart, her boots frayed and in fragments. Her shield was cracked, and her ice javelin had melted away. She'd have to make another one from an ice wall... Blood was still welling from the wounds on her feet, and they felt sore as well. Feeling the side of her face, she realized that the gash the tree had left had stopped bleeding long ago, but was going to leave some sort of scar...

She began to clean up her feet, biting her lower lip to stop a screech of pain. She managed to clear away all the blood from her left foot, but felt on the verge of tears afterwards. The chompies had left a huge, gaping wound on the back of her foot she hadn't been able to see due to the amount of blood, and so, she had rubbed the rag over the wound repeatedly.

She carefully dabbed it over her right foot, unwilling to allow the pain to stop her. Her right foot was in a much worse state; in fact, she had to look away to keep from crying.

Angry with her failure and in pain, she clenched her fists and looked down. _I am not strong enough, _she thought. _Geo or any of t'ose ot'er dragons would beat me in an instant._

Brock returned with arms full of spray cans. He dropped them in front of her. "Ta-da! Here," he picked up one and went around to her backside, spraying the pain on her suit. He stopped a few minutes later, and picked up another, baby-blue can. "Now, a bit of blue here and there..." He carefully put some of the blue coloring where it was supposed to be on her suit.

"Alright, that should do for now, but you're gonna have to get a new suit eventually," Brock told her. "And you can just say that you tried to go to a minefield or sumthin'... I really don't have a lie for your feet. Ya look like ya were mauled."

"Probably because I was," Chill growled, trying to get to her feet. She squeaked in pain and fell back down. "Great, now I can't even stand upright..."

"I'll go get Whirlwind and Spyro," Brock told her. He wandered over to the edge of the ship and walked down the ramp. "WHIRLWIND! SPYRO!"

"Good Eon's Throne, he is loud!" Chill grunted, trying to secure her helmet tighter on her head. She waited and waited... All the while, the battle replayed over and over again in her mind. The tree, the chompies, she mace major... She clenched her jaw. How could she have let such mediocre enemies do so much damage to her? She had dealt with more at Wilikin Village! What if she was going soft...?

_T'en I must train harder, _Chill told herself.

"Brock, what happened?" Chill could hear Spyro pestering the goliath drow long before they got into the ship. Whirlwind was following close behind. Both Skylanders froze upon looking at her.

"Chill, what on Skylands happened to you?" Spyro gasped.

"Blasted chompies," she grumbled.

"She wanted me to take her over to some island to train. I did, and she got ate up on the feet by chompies," Brock said, twiddling his thumbs behind his back nervously.

Spyro sighed. He flicked his tail towards Chill. "Whirlwind, shoot some rainbows at her."

"Okay," Whirlwind nodded. She fired off a round of four rainbows, each one shimmering with the seven hues of color. They hit Chill and seemed to vanish into thin air, but in fact, her feet began to heal in front of her eyes!

The wounds closed, and a burst of light came from her feet. Whirlwind shook herself, and blinked. "Alright, her feet will still be sore, but she'll be able to walk. But she shouldn't do any practice matches for a while."

An alarm went off in Chill's mind. "Why not?" She asked.

"Because your feet looked like they practically went through a shredder," Spyro took up the statement. "Now, come on, let's go."

Chill stood on her feet, feeling a dull throb of pain pulse whenever she took a step, but ignored it. Spyro led them across the beach. Clam-Tron Four-Thousand was having a chat with Boomer (or, more or less, yelling at him to stay away from his bombs). Slam-Bam and Wham-Shell were having some sort of surf-off in the water, as both were riding huge waves and both appeared to be glaring at each other while doing so.

Chill wondered how they were riding waves, when this body of water did not have large enough waves to be ridden. Her question was answered when the waves they were riding died away and Zap came zooming out of the water in front of her.

"Chill!" He exclaimed, running up to her. "Where have you been? And what happened to your face?!"

Chill realized that she had not cleaned off her cheek properly. "Training accident," she answered as vaguely as she could.

Zap gritted his teeth and nipped at her feet. "There's no way I'm buying that, what happened?" He growled.

She jumped when he nipped at her feet. She angrily turned around and glared at him harshly. "I do not have to listen to you, I am a grown woman, and I can and will do what I want, when I want! I do not have to tell you where I am twenty-four-hours of every seven days a week, _Zap, _and I would like to be left alone now!" She huffed afterwards and clenched her fists together, continuing to glare at him.

Zap glared right back. "Well, excuse me if I get worried!" He snarled. With that, he turned around and marched straight back towards Slam-Bam and Wham-Shell.

Chill turned back around to find everyone staring at her. "What?" She spat the question like ice. "Never seen a fight before?" She said coldly, staring at Spyro as she said it.

Spyro gritted his teeth and turned away from her. "Come on, up the stairs."

"If I want to stay down here on the beach, I'm going to stay down here on the beach!" Chill yelled, stomping her foot (with much discomfort) and flopping down on the sand. She crossed her arms stubbornly and refused to move.

"Fine, then! Stay!" Spyro burst. He ran up the stairs without second thought. Whirlwind hesitated slightly, shooting unsure glances between Spyro and Chill. Eventually, she turned and walked up the stairs after Spyro.

Brock flopped down next to her. "Y'know, I think ya should keep trainin', just not right now. Zap would be a good trainin' partner," he commented.

Chill threw him an icy glare. "Unless you want a javelin in the eye, I suggest you, as the saying goes, 'beat it'," she said in a dark tone of voice.

Brock sighed as he got to his feet, adjusting his viking helmet so it sat straight. "I just don't think ya should be so mean to the lil' guy. Zap really likes ya, you know."

Chill blinked. "He... what?" She recoiled slightly. Zap was a dragon, and she was a thaumaturge! "T'at's madness!"

"Whirlwind's parents were a unicorn and a dragon, you really think anyone would judge?" Brock rolled his eyes as he walked away.

Chill shook her head and watched the water Skylanders. Gill Grunt was sitting on the sand with Trigger Happy, looking as exasperated as ever.

"Trig, I'm tellin' ya, there ain't no gold on the beach," Gill Grunt face-palmed, setting his harpoon gun to the side.

"And I'm telling you there is!" Trigger Happy shouted back. Chill laughed upon realizing that he was digging in the sand with his tiny hands, his pistols lying in the sand a few feet away.

Looking away from them, Wham-Shell and Slam-Bam were talking in hushed whispers with Zap. Thumpback was floating in the water, looking more like a huge blue rock than a whale. Chill took to staring at Zap.

The water dragon snapped at Wham-Shell and dove into the water, zooming through it. She felt guilt gnaw at her. She had always knew Zap liked her as a friend, and that he was always willing to help her with anything, but never had she thought... She shook her head. It was pure madness. An icelandic warrior, a thaumaturge, with a water dragon? But she couldn't help but feel guilty about being so mean to him, completely disregarding anything he may have felt towards her...

The sky seemed to have gone straight from sky-blue to black, because the next thing she knew, the sky was dark, and had glimmering stars on it. She leaned her head back and sighed, waiting for her removal from Skylands.

Like a whoosh from a fast and sudden gust of wind, she was snatched from Skylands. The next image that filled her gaze was the familiar one of Ben and Sheila's game room.

The room had pale white walls and a long, brown futon couch in it. The floor was a beige carpeting. Across from the couch, was a oakwood dresser with a black TV atop it. It read 'Player 1: please put a Skylander on the portal of power'.

Next to the dresser was a long, oakwood desk. She sighed upon recognizing the frozen statues of everyone... Aside from them was a black machine with a silver power button with green rings around it. Chill had heard Ben and Sheila repeatedly call the machine an 'Xbox 360'.

The Portal of Power whirled between all the elemental colors innocently close to the machine, unknowing to the predicament the Skylanders faced every day.

Ben was a brown-haired boy with hazel eyes. Today, he was wearing a red shirt with crimson shorts. He sat her figure next to Zap's and Thumpback's. She cursed Ben and Sheila; they always organized their Skylanders according to element.

Sheila was a black-haired girl with green eyes. She was wearing a blue shirt with white stripes, and had short black shorts on. Her hair stuck out in several places.

Ben and Sheila had discovered a long time ago a way to glitch this 'Xbox' and send in far more than two Skylanders at a time. Chill guessed that only true Portal Masters could do this, and her thoughts wandered back to the negative universe she and the others had visited.

She hadn't exactly liked the negative version of herself, but wasn't against her either. Rather than blue lips, that Chill had had violet-red lips. Chill guessed that Cindi, despite being extremely young, must have been a true Portal Master if she too could send in all her Skylanders at once, considering Eon could as well.

"Wonder what they did today? Hey, Zeus!" Ben called out to their dog, Zeus. He was a large dog with a pointed muzzle and ears, a long, feather-duster-like tail, and large paws. He was mostly black, but had brown on the underside of his muzzle, stomach, and legs.

Zeus looked past Ben and at the Skylanders on the table.

"Dumb furball," Chill heard Flashwing comment.

Chill yawned as she entered Skylands the following day. She was still fuming over how nobody was allowing her to train. She was back on the beach, and Zap was at the other end of the beach, Cynder and Riley sitting close by. Chill guessed Spyro had snapped at her again.

Zap was ignoring their every word, but Riley was refusing to give up.

"Zap, come on," Riley pushed lightly on his shoulder. "Go talk to her!"

"She doesn't want to talk to me," Zap responded, completely unaware that Chill could hear everything he was saying. "And I don't want to force her to talk to me."

"Of all the stupid-Zap, I'm sure she's calmed down now, she probably snapped yesterday because she had just gotten hurt in a training match, although, to be honest, I think whenever Chill gets hurt, it's her pride that takes the damage," Cynder muttered.

Zap sighed. "If she is, I don't want to make her feel bad again."

Chill got to her feet and decided it was time she put on the brave face and apologized. As much as she despised apologies, now called for one.

She limped towards them, the frayed edges of her boots irritating her feet. Riley looked up at her once she was close, and bared her fangs. "What is it you want, grouch?" She demanded.

"Not'ing wit' you," Chill said coldly. She hated Riley, to be completely honest. She was an airhead, and wasn't any sort of leverage in battles. All she could do was spit water, and there were plenty of creatures that could do that. In fact, the only reason she was even there was because Cynder had grown attached to her. She didn't take training seriously, and filled Cynder's head with lies. Though Chill didn't think Cynder could handle the truth of what everyone thought of her, there would be no reason to lie to her and tell her she is accepted. "I was here to apologize to Zap."

"Good," Riley growled.

Chill brandished her shield by shoving it close to Riley's face. "T'is doesn't concern you," she growled.

Riley flicked her tail and turned away, walking towards the sea. Cynder glared at Chill through narrow eyes, but followed her friend.

"Zap?" Chill took a seat next to him, setting her shield down, both physically and psychologically.

"Yes?" He looked up at her with hopeful eyes. His red gaze seemed to burn through her.

She forced herself not to look away. "Sorry about yesterday... I shouldn't lie. I will come clean. I do not t'ink I am powerful enough to face Geo or any of t'e ot'ers. I feel like a dead weight. So, I wanted to train. I had heard of t'ings called 'arenas' from some of t'e ot'ers-" Zap cut her off.

"You went to an arena challenge?!" He exclaimed, backing away, eyes wide in concern. "Those things are beyond dangerous! I had to practically save Sunburn's life last year! You hadn't been recruited as a Skylander yet, but he nearly got himself killed!" Zap looked extremely panicked. "Don't you dare go back there, you got it?" He growled, seeming to settle down.

"But Zap..." Chill sighed. When was he going to understand? She couldn't even use the most ancient of her kind's attack, Call the Narwhal, yet! Just another reason she had left her ice kingdom... "Zap, I need to challenge t'ose arenas. T'ey make me stronger."

"No, they'll get you killed!" Zap had sincere conviction in his tone of voice, despite it still being watery and gurgley. He narrowed his eyes. "If you go back there, I'll tell Spyro. You know arenas are illegal. Brock would get arrested and you could be stripped from your position as Skylander." He looked away, avoiding her shocked expression.

"But if they caught Sunburn challenging an arena, why wasn't he-?" Chill asked.

"Because I never told anybody!" Zap said frustratedly. "Nobody says anything. Practically everybody knows about the arena challenges except Spyro, Cynder, Gill Grunt, Trigger Happy, and Riley. We don't tell them because we don't want Brock to get arrested. We're all against the idea of arena challenges, especially after what happened to Sunburn. But Spyro never found out, so we made up a lie that Sunburn tried to go back to Dragon's Peak, but some enemies hurt him."

Chill stood up. "Well, I still need to train, and I will train in t'ose arenas if I want!"

Zap stood up as well. "No, you're not!" He snarled. "If you leave with Brock again, I will tell Spyro!"

"Why would you do t'at?" Chill asked him at last. She didn't understand... why was he so angry about it?

"Because I don't want you hurt," he answered. "Or worse..." He shivered, clenching his eyes shut for a moment. But when he opened them again, he seemed to burst with anger. "Of course you wouldn't understand! It's not like you give me a second look, anyway!" He jumped upwards and hit her helmet with his front foot, knocking it off. "You really think I'm stupid enough to fall for Brock's fake paint?" He growled, walking around to her backside. He gasped and backed away. "See? See what I mean?!" He shot at her.

Chill picked her helmet back up and set it back on her head. "So... the burns were so bad they went t'rough my suit?"

"Chill, you've got a bald spot on your head and your back looks like I could fry troll eggs on it!" Zap turned around and shook his head. "I don't believe you." He ran towards the stairs that led up onto the main part of the Citadel, and away from the beach.

Gill Grunt, Slam-Bam, and Trigger Happy wandered over to her. "What was all that about? Never seen Zap that mad," Slam-Bam asked.

"Not'ing," Chill answered, turning and stomping over to Flynn's ship. She'd show him. He did not control her actions. He did not control her. She was a twenty year old woman, and she could do as she pleased!

Slam-Bam waved away Gill Grunt, and Trigger Happy returned to his search for the buried treasure on the beach, but Slam-Bam followed her.

He tapped her shoulder. Irritated by everybody interfering with her training, Chill turned around and demanded, "What?"

"If you're going into one of Brock's arenas, you might want to make a new javelin or two first, and be prepared for a long battle," Slam-Bam told her, crossing his two sets of arms. His silvery white fur was tugged by the wind. "I used to use Brock's arenas all the time to get stronger. But after the incident with Sunburn, I stopped. You might be better off taking Zap's advice, and I don't think he's bluffing by saying he'll tell Spyro..."

Chill refused to listen. "I don't give a snowflake what Zap says, now leave me alone!" Chill yanked her shoulder away and marched up the ramp.

Auric was talking with Brock about the goliath drow's hat.

"Please, I'll give you up to six hundred gold pieces for it, I know somebody who'll pay good money for that hat!" Auric was practically begging the goliath drow.

Brock put his hands on his hips. "Look, pal, I like my hat, plus, it's how they tell me apart from other drow. Ya ain't gettin' my hat!" Brock stomped his foot.

"Ugh, fine," Auric huffed and walked up the stairs that led to the Game Room. He walked through the gaping red door, slamming it shut behind him.

Chill set aside her shield. "So, Brock..."

He turned to look at her. "Humph. Back for more, are ya? Didn't ya learn your lesson last time?"

"No. When I am able to use the Call t'e Narwhal attack I will be satisfied," Chill stated, taking a seat on a wooden crate by the hatch that led to the cannons below deck. "So, I'd like to go back."

"What 'bout your friend?" Brock nodded towards the Citadel and Chill clenched her fists.

"I don't care about him," she lied, her voice cracking slightly.

"Ouch, man, they call you 'Chill' for a reason, don't they? Eh, whatever," Brock said, humming something as he went towards the controls of the ship. "Hold onto sumthin' and hang your head over the side of the ship if you're gonna hurl, ya got it?"

Chill's stomach churned as he got the boat into the sky, but not enough to make her sick.

The ride to the arena was short, and this time, Chill did not go unconscious during the ride there. Brock docked the boat close to the arena, and they stepped out.

The ground was grass, and a long dock stretched from the edge of the grass to the beginning of the arena platform. Chill noticed enemies off in the distance. "_Gelu!_" She shouted.

Several ice walls appeared in front of her. Using her shield, she chipped bits and pieces from it until all that was left was a rod. She picked it up and carefully began to chisel on the details to the ice javelin.

Brock tapped his foot impatiently. "Look, pal, they were expectin' me a good ten minutes ago. Think you can hurry up?"

She shot him a nasty look. "Cool it."

Chill began to chisel out another ice javelin from a different ice block. If there was anything she had learned from her disastrous first arena challenge, it was that she needed more than one javelin.

But putting in all the details and points that made the javelins do damage was hard. Especially with an impatient Brock tapping his foot repeatedly behind her back.

After evening out the tip on the second javelin, she stood up. She had her shield tied to her right arm, and a javelin in either hand. She straightened her helmet. "I'm ready."

Brock led her down the boardwalk. He jumped onto the arena platform, and Chill followed. Brock turned around and stared at her. "Alright, boys! Chill's back for more! Give her all ya got." Brock took a flying leap into the stands, and then onto his own personal platform, looking over the battlefield.

Chill raised her shield in front of her face. As she expected, a bunch of chompies and a Mace Major were up first. She ran towards the Mace Major, making sure to keep her shield facing it, she kicked his legs out from under it and then swung her arm at it, knocking it into the pit that surrounded the arena.

Turning around, she realized she was surrounded by chompies. "No problem," she grinned, throwing both of her ice javelins.

But what happened next, she did not expect. None of the chompies took any damage! Her javelins returned to her hands. Alarmed, Chill called out to Brock. "What is t'e meaning of t'is?"

"What? They're chompies, geez," Brock responded.

"T'ey're not taking a single bit of damage!" Chill shouted, jumping over one of the chompies as it dove at her.

"What? They shouldn't have protective spells over'em!" Brock exclaimed. Now he sounded alarmed. He jumped down from his platform, and roared. The chompies yelped and ran for cover. "STOP THE BATTLE!" Brock shouted.

For a second, it looked as though the monsters had obeyed Brock. Chill put her hands on her hips. "What were you trying to do, kill me?!"

"I wasn't, but he might!" Brock jumped, shoving her and himself out of the way of a tree from a familiar Bark Demon. The tree rose upwards violently in the spot where they had just been. Chill and Brock separated and stood up, both taking battle stance.

"Yo, buddy! Ya listen to me, ya hear?" Brock yelled at it.

The Bark Demon merely roared. It heaved itself forward and reared back its fists, before slamming them into the ground. The aftershock of the impact caused Chill to be knocked down. The tree began shooting through the ground-straight at her.

Brock charged the Bark Demon, his shield pointed at it. Chill closed her eyes and prepared to be turned into a thaumaturge on a stick. But that did not happen.

Instead, when the tree came bursting from the ground, it stabbed her arm and yanked her upwards. Chill was in too much shock to feel the pain from the attack, and was glad when she saw Brock run the Bark Demon over the edge of the platform.

Chill's breath shuddered as she breathed in, and she looked up at her arm. The tree had hooked her suit, but she was sure it had mangled her arm as well. Brock stomped over to her and pulled her off the tree, dropping her at his feet. "C'mon, I don't know what's goin' on here, but we need to get out of here, 'specially you. You're hurt, bad."

Chill got to her feet. "Am not," she lied, her arm hanging limply at her side. She put her other arm over her damaged one, protecting it from any further harm. Brock grabbed her by the shirt, and jumped.

They landed on the boardwalk. Brock dropped her and continued towards the ship. Vision blurry from pain and shock, Chill stumbled after him. Back at the ship, he threw her onto the deck and ran to the captain's helm.

Chill clenched her jaw and shut her eyes tightly. Her arm felt like it was on fire. All she remembered was the lurching of the ship taking off before she passed out.

"Is she going to be alright?"

Chill blinked and opened her eyes. Groaning, she sat upright, leaning on her right arm, only for a bolt of furious pain to streak through her, and cause her to fall back down again.

"Stay still, Chill," Spyro's voice told her. The purple dragon leaned over top of her. "You're hurt badly this time. Whirlwind was able to stop the bleeding and prevent infection, but the wound is too bad for her to close, so we've bandaged it and Ghost Roaster's made a special food that will keep it from getting any worse."

Chill leaned forward, leaning on her other arm. Looking around, she was laid out right beside the Core of Light, with nearly everyone crowded around her.

"Move, damn it!"

She blinked in shock upon hearing Zap curse. She had never heard him curse at all before. He burst from between Hot Dog and Eruptor, and leaned over top of her. "Are you okay?" He asked urgently.

"Of course I am," she responded. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"Because you look like you've been through a meat grinder!" He exclaimed.

Chill sighed and looked away. He was right. Those arena challenges had done nothing but ruin her. "I'm sorry, Zap…"

"Sorry for what?" Zap looked dumbfounded. "You had a training accident at Sapphire Lake. It's fine."

"Huh?" Chill blinked at him. So they didn't know she had been at an arena challenge? Even though Zap had seemed so willing to tear her away from the Skylanders earlier that day, he had come forward and lied for her…? Chill smiled. "Oh, right, t'at…"

Zap smiled as well. His expression said all that needed to be said. _No matter what happens, I am there. _She silently thanked him for it in one way. Kissing him.

* * *

**Alright, before you call me a weird perv, technically, we do not know what species Chill is. Due to her powers over ice and humanoid characteristics, I called her a thaumaturge (basically, an ice wizard) repeatedly in this one. Let's not forget, Camo is a plant and a dragon hybrid, so I'm not too sure whether a dragon-thaumaturge hybrid would matter all that much, haha. **


	11. Burning Hope

_**Burning Hope**_

* * *

"Did the attempt work? Was Chill killed?"

The small, indigo dragon shook his head, his hair shaking. "No. That dumb goliath drow, Brock, saved her. My spell that protected the chompies and bark demon... it should have worked!"

The larger, more violet-blue dragon on the screen in front of him hissed. "You're supposed to be taking them out whenever you see the chance!"

"You don't think I know that!?" He snarled back at her.

"Hey, where'd you go? Filthy scum, why Spyro ever took you in, I'll never know…"

The feminine tone of voice caught him off-guard. "I've got to go. I'll talk to you later. She's such an annoying pest."

_Maybe it's time I started doing what I was here for._

* * *

Slam-Bam set his ice surfboard on the water. "Hey, Wham-Shell, Zap! What'cha say a ra-Never mind..." Slam-Bam rolled his eyes at Chill and Zap. The two were sitting in the sand, talking a few feet away.

Slam-Bam was in the water on the beach. Wham-Shell wandered over. "How on Skylands does he manage to get her just by wanting her? I swear, if it worked like that for me-"

Slam-Bam laughed, cutting him off. "Jealous much?"

Wham-Shell crossed his arms, his mace hanging over his shoulder. "May-be."

"You're just used to getting what you want. Anyway, come on, you wanna race? I want an excuse to get away from those two, anyway," Slam-Bam stuck out his tongue at Chill and Zap, and, as he expected, they took no notice.

"Sure," Wham-Shell nodded. He put his mace lying straight in the water. Just as he was about to jump on and they were about to be off, a scream came from the upper part of the Citadel.

Wham-Shell groaned. "How come at least once a week we have somebody screamin' their heads off up there?"

Slam-Bam didn't respond. "Come on, let's go!"

Chill and Zap stood up. The water dragon spat sea-slime in front of him and was ahead of them all. Chill ran up the staircase. Stealth Elf and Flameslinger had been practice battling one the other side of the beach, but now they were rushing up the stairs, Flameslinger leaving fire in his wake.

Slam-Bam and Wham-Shell were some of the last ones up, but they didn't need a front row seat to know it was Ninjini and Scarlett everybody was crowded around. At the center of the Citadel, a few feet away from the Core of Light, Ninjini was bent over Scarlett.

Spyro flew into the air. "There is nothing for any of you to see here! Get!" He snarled.

Slam-Bam flinched at his harsh tone, along with half of the other Skylanders. Spyro landed and growled. "Move it!"

Cynder snorted scornfully and didn't move. "I know he's not talking to me," she said aloud, Riley nervously looking between Spyro and Cynder. She looked caught between obeying Spyro and sticking with her friend.

"Are you mad!? We need to know who did this!" Ninjini looked up and immediately the group of Skylanders crowded around her backed away quite a bit. Her eyes were glowing a bright red, and her hands were clutched firmly around her swords. Now that there weren't as many Skylanders around her, Slam-Bam could see just what it was that was wrong with Scarlett.

She was out cold on the ground, but Slam-Bam could still see the shuddering rise and fall of her chest, so at least she wasn't dead... She had a long, nasty gash going from her neck to her stomach.

Spyro moved in and leaned over Scarlett. He sighed with relief. "She's just knocked out."

Ninjini brandished a wishblade right over his head. "You're going to be a lot more than knocked out if you don't get back!" She hollered. "I know who did it!"

Spyro moved back some, looking double-crossed. "Ninjini!"

"It was him!" Ninjini pointed a wishblade at Kaz, who was panting and standing beside Jade and Flashwing. He ducked and put his paws over his head when Ninjini pointed the sword at him.

"Oh p-please! Why would I do anything to Scarlett? HOW would I do anything to Scarlett? She's, like, t-t-ten times my size and has swords and can go ina bottle and-" he stopped and began shivering and fear.

Slam-Bam narrowed his eyes at Kaz. He was quite a distance away from the black-haired, indigo-colored dragon, but he saw something on the scales of him that was quite incriminating. If he hadn't done anything to Scarlett, why did he have a perfect cut going from his shoulder to his foot? And why was he out of breath?

Jade stepped forward. "You've got a lot of nerve, you self-centered-"

"_Me?_ _I'm _self-centered?!" Ninjini screeched. "I just don't like seeing my sister on the ground in a pool of her own blood!"

"Oh, what would you know?!" Whirlwind snarled.

"Shut up!" Spyro flew into the air and charged up a fireball. He released it, and it slammed down dangerously close to the crowd. "Back up or I'll fire off more!"

Everyone did as they were told. The Water Skylanders joined each other at the first step that led to the beach. Slam-Bam found himself beside Wham-Shell and Gill Grunt. Trigger Happy wasn't with him. The little gremlin had run off towards Spyro.

Gill Grunt narrowed his eyes. "And just what does that lil' gunslinger think he's doin'?"

Slam-Bam blinked. "Uh, going to try and talk to Spyro? Man, he must have a death wish... Spyro doesn't want to talk to anybody lately."

Slam-Bam took in the view of the Citadel. Spyro was trying to talk to Ninjini, but the magic giant wasn't having any of it. She brandished her sword again, this time, extremely close to Spyro. He growled and flicked his tail.

"Ninjini, come on, enough is enough, we've got to help her, don't we?" Spyro growled. He coughed afterwards.

Ninjini grudgingly allowed her swords to vanish. "Fine. But I'm telling you, Kaz did it!"

"And I don't care, I just want to help Scarlett. Whirlwind!" He called the feathered dragon-unicorn hybrid. "Flashwing!"

The gem dragon appeared next to Whirlwind. The two were not good friends-rather, they were more like bitter enemies. They refused to look at each other as they walked over from the brambles towards him.

Spyro nodded towards Scarlett. "Whirlwind, fire off some rainbows. Flashwing, shoot a shard into the base of the Core of Light so the rays can heal Scarlett," he told them.

As they did that, Slam-Bam's mind wandered.

Stealth Elf, Flameslinger, Stump Smash, Sunburn, Camo, Zook, and Ignitor were all hanging around the base of the Tree of Life. Arbo was watching the scene unfold with unblinking eyes and his tongue lolling out, as always.

Tree Rex had herded all the giants away from the scene unfolding before them, and they were up on the hill, far away from the Core and Ninjini. Tree Rex looked to be bickering with Bouncer, but the Arkeyan Roboto-Ball player seemed to get the message, as he began to help Tree Rex stop any of the others from bursting forward.

Shroomboom was huddled over by a mushroom patch in Camo's garden he had set up near the Tree of Life. Camo shot him a look of contempt. The plant-dragon hybrid had a thing against mushrooms, as they were basically weeds that grew on dead plants.

Hot Dog, Molta, and Eruptor were sitting by Hugo and Flynn's cabin. The pilot and mabu came out of their cabin and sat down, looking blankly at the scene. Flynn had his orange sleeping robe on, and a cup of coffee in his hands. Hugo, as usual, had a maroon colored book in his hands, and he was looking up from it every few seconds or so.

Persephone was floating overtop her cabin, Cali sitting on the porch. Cali looked on as though it was nothing new, her interest only shown by her swiveling ears. She had on her red pajamas. Hex, Fright Rider, Cynder, Riley, and Ghost Roaster were waiting idly close to her cabin.

Sonic Boom, Jet-Vac, Storm, Lionheart, Godspeed, and Mayflower were laying down close to the edge of the island. Sonic Boom had her wings spread protectively around her youngsters. Mayflower was happily sitting behind her mother, as well as Godspeed, but Lionheart and Storm looked irritated.

Storm shoved his mother's wing out of his face and looked at Scarlett, Ninjini, and Spyro. "Ooh! Mum, what's going on?"

"None of your business," Jet-Vac and Sonic Boom's voices coincided with one another.

Warnado, Dino-Rang, Lightning Rod, and Prism Break were sitting by the tree that led either up the hill or towards the cabins. Warnado and Dino-Rang looked as though they'd lost interest with the situation, and were talking to one another as they would normally. Lightning Rod and Prism Break, however, were still staring at the two magic giant sisters with peaked interest.

Terrafin, Bash, Jade, and Kaz were laying close to the brambles. Thor was leaning up against Kaz, shaking like a leaf.

Trigger Happy tugged on Spyro's wing. "Spyro, please, it's important."

Spyro irritably glared at him. "This is more important!"

Ninjini gently picked up her sister using her telepathic powers. Her eyes were glowing and hand raised as she moved her sister slowly through the air. Her red-jacketed floated calmly from where she had been downed, her dark violet ponytail swinging through the air. She landed closer to the Core of Light.

Flashwing spread her gem-studded wings, and raised her tail, shooting a shard at the base of the Core. The light shimmering off of it shone on Scarlett, and Slam-Bam knew it would help her heal.

Whirlwind fired off a round of three rainbows. Each time one hit Scarlett, it vanished and left a sparkling shimmer on the magic giant's skin.

"Now, Spyro, please!" Trigger Happy pulled harder on Spyro's wing.

Spyro kicked him, and Trigger Happy rolled away a bit. Spyro gasped upon realizing just what he'd done, but it was too late. Slam-Bam was shoved to the side a bit as Gill Grunt cut on his jet-pack and went flying at Spyro. He stopped in front of the purple dragon. "What's your problem, huh?!" Gill Grunt demanded.

Trigger Happy got up and blinked, a deep look of betrayal in his yellow eyes.

Spyro averted Gill Grunt's gaze completely. "I'm sorry."

"Sorry don't cut it!" Gill Grunt turned around angrily and helped Trigger Happy up the rest of the way. The gremlin rubbed his stomach where Spyro had kicked him.

Slam-Bam's jaw dropped at what he had just witnessed. From the surprised looks on everyone else's faces, it was obvious they were feeling the same.

Ninjini almost seemed pleased at what she had just seen, though. Looking away from the purple dragon, she stared at Scarlett blankly, and then, she began to swirl and twist. Afterwards, she disappeared into her bottle, which happened to be leaned against Scarlett.

Spyro sighed and allowed his tail to trail over the ground as he flopped down close to the Core of Light.

Gill Grunt and Trigger Happy joined Slam-Bam. Gill Grunt was quite obviously furious. He and Trigger Happy sat down, the gremlin staring at Spyro as though he was some strange, foreign object. Gill Grunt whipped out his harpoon gun and placed his fins on it, shooting Spyro dark looks of contempt. Trigger Happy tore his look away from Spyro and twiddled his thumbs.

Slam-Bam sighed and nudged Wham-Shell with his top left arm. "Want to go back down to the beach?"

"Not really. Scarlett may be a pain, but she's a giant, too," Wham-Shell murmured. "I just hope she's alright..."

Slam-Bam nodded. "I understand, but I don't think we should all be staring at Spyro, no matter how weird that was..."

"What is his problem lately, anyway?" Wham-Shell asked, screwing up his face in confusion.

Chill gave them a quick glance, and Slam-Bam was almost sure he had seen panic flare in her icy blue gaze. The thaumaturge got to her feet. "Come on, Zap, I t'ink we should leave Spyro alone now..."

"Huh? What about Ninjini and Scarlett?" Zap looked back at the unconscious giant and her sister's bottle.

"We can check them out later," Chill responded. "Come on." She pulled him by his electrical suit's collar, and led him down the staircase. He followed her without much hesitation.

Wham-Shell crossed his arms. "Why can't a girl ever drag me off, huh?"

Slam-Bam rolled his eyes and patted his friend on the back. "I hate to say it, bud, but I don't think the girls are very attracted to a lobster man," Slam-Bam laughed.

"Hardy har har," Wham-Shell replied grumpily, crossing his arms. His mace hung off his shoulder.

Slam-Bam took another look around, and another odd thought struck him. "Hey, Wham, Gill, Trig, where's Eon been?"

Gill Grunt and Trigger Happy exchanged a look, and Slam-Bam knew then that they had to know something. He poked Gill Grunt on his shoulder. "Gill, come on, where's Eon?"

"Eon's gone," the gillman spoke in a cold tone of voice, as though he didn't care. He narrowed his eyes and glared at Spyro, his hand tensing around his harpoon gun. "And Spyro's gone mad because of it."

Slam-Bam and Wham-Shell gaped stupidly, looking like they had just been slapped clear across their faces. Slam-Bam flicked his gaze from Spyro to Gill Grunt. "So, if Spyro's sad because Eon's left, how come everyone's being so mean to him?" Slam-Bam shook his head. "It doesn't make sense. You two were, like, his best friends!"

"Were," Gill Grunt repeated darkly.

Trigger Happy just shook his head. He obviously wasn't going to be saying a word. Slam-Bam knew he was the youngest of the Skylanders, and that he probably didn't understand depression, or any other sort of mental instability.

Wham-Shell dropped his mace on the ground. "I don't understand somethin'. If you guys were best friends, then how come you didn't try to make him feel better?"

"Because he tries to bite your head off if you so much as say somethin' to him!" Gill Grunt exclaimed. "And if you're gonna blame me for what's done happened to him, then I ain't stayin' up here! Come on, Trig." Gill Grunt placed his hand on the gremlin's shoulder, urging him to get up.

Trigger Happy blinked. "No."

"Why? What's wrong?" Gill Grunt sat back down and looked at Trigger Happy with genuine concern in his yellow-orange gaze.

"Because I actually want to talk to Spyro and explain to him everything that's been happening lately, but you haven't been letting me," Trigger Happy pulled his shoulder out of the gillman's grasp. "I don't like how you've been treating Spyro, Gill."

"You saw how he's been actin'!" Gill Grunt sighed. "Trig, he's not gonna listen to ya."

"Well, we don't know if we don't try," Trigger Happy's voice hardened. "N-now, you leave me alone!"

Gill Grunt crossed his arms, his harpoon gun falling to the ground. "Don't mind if I do!" He picked up his gun and walked off down the staircase.

Trigger Happy turned to Slam-Bam and Wham-Shell. "Are you going to help me?"

"Of course," Slam-Bam piped up immediately. He didn't like seeing Spyro like this, and he seemed to be getting sick... Slam-Bam couldn't remember the last time the purple dragon had even eaten anything, or the last time he'd actually slept peacefully once during the day... And Cynder seemed to be avoiding him, as she was always with the Undead Skylanders and Riley. He honestly didn't blame him for being so mean to everyone...

Mostly everyone had gone back about their own business. Sunburn and Camo were talking about something, Camo shooting Shroomboom dark looks as the mushroom man continued to sit in his garden.

The giants had sat down and were whispering to one another. Tree Rex didn't look entirely all that focused, however, as he kept glancing worriedly at Scarlett and Ninjini in her bottle.

Slam-Bam stood up and dusted himself off with his four arms. "So, Trig, we doing this now or later?"

"Now," Trigger Happy murmured.

Wham-Shell stood up next and held up a hand. "Wait a second, half the Citadel is staring at Spyro right now. He probably thinks they're all talking about him. I think it would be best if we waited until later."

"No," Trigger Happy shook his head again, his eyes narrowed in determination. His tongue was hanging out slightly less than it would have been normally. "He needs to know now that we're not all against him."

"How would you know?" Slam-Bam asked bluntly.

"Because I know. Guess that's something older people seem to forget about once they get older-how to be nice," Trigger Happy's sharp comment was uncharacteristically deep for his usual self. Slam-Bam had the same feeling he got after being slapped in the face after hearing the words. But he knew Trigger Happy was right...

Ninjini and Scarlett, on any usual day, would be making snide and mean comments towards Cynder and Hex, and even Fright Rider... Chill was usually extremely impatient with anyone who interfered with her training, other than Zap, and snapped at anyone who offered her help... Cynder practically dared anybody to say anything bad to her by baring her teeth and lashing her tail... Jade and Flashwing were always spreading some sort of rumour... Whirlwind had become expansively more bitter since Polarity's death, snapping at most other than Spyro or Drobot...

_Wow, _Slam-Bam thought, stifling laughter. _We can be a bunch of jerks, can't we? _"I see your point," Slam-Bam nodded.

Trigger Happy led them over to Spyro. He looked up at them and blinked. He must have thought they were going to say something bad to him, because he shut his eyes tight and looked away sharply, and said, "Look, I said I'm sorry, and I am, and if you're mad, I understand-but I don't need you coming up here and yelling at me about it," he growled, lashing his tail dangerously, his pyramidic ending slashing a cut through the ground. "So, leave."

"We're not going to yell or anything," Trigger Happy told him. "Spyro, _we've _been the real jerks lately. _We're _sorry. We really should have seen that Eon leaving hurt you a lot... _we_ were in the wrong."

Spyro turned his head to look at him. "R-really?"

Trigger Happy smiled. "Yeah, really."

Spyro covered his face with his wing and coughed violently. "Yeah... thanks... but still..." He folded his wing back against his side and jumped to his feet, digging his claws into the ground. Anger pulsed from him in waves. "I bet you it was Geo who did this to Scarlett. Someone's trying to take us out, one by one. First, they tried you, Trig, and now, they've tried Scarlett."

"What about Chill?" Wham-Shell chimed in. "She was attacked on Sapphire Lake by chompies that had protective spells around 'em, according to her and Zap."

Spyro nodded. "I know it's got to be Geo. We're going to have to take him out before he can strike again."

"Oh, so you're best friends with them again, but you snap at me like I'm your worst enemy?" Cynder shoved Slam-Bam, Wham-Shell, and Trigger Happy out of the way, sticking her muzzle right in Spyro's face. "What is your problem, huh?"

"Cynder..." Spyro dipped his head. "I'm sorry."

"'Sorry' doesn't fix everything!" She lashed her tail and glared at him through glinting, icy eyes. "You know what... maybe Riley's right. Maybe Kaz is right."

Spyro blinked. "What? Kaz and Riley?"

"Yes. I'm not your girlfriend, Spyro, I'm not 'with' you, it's over," Cynder seemed to struggle to keep her stone-cold expression. Slam-Bam clenched all four of his fists. He had hated Cynder enough when Spyro had insisted on her being a Skylander, but this... this was unacceptable!

Spyro backed away from her. "What did they say?"

Cynder curled her lip. "None of your business!"

"Well, you know what is my business?" Slam-Bam shoved Spyro out of the way and stomped over to Cynder. "You bein' mean to Spyro when we finally manage to get him thinkin' straight again!" Slam-Bam reared back his two right fists, and prepared to strike her when he felt electricity cause his fur to stand on end and fry his back.

He looked around to see Riley and Zap glaring at him. They were a few feet behind Wham-Shell and Trigger Happy, and they didn't look happy, not one bit.

Zap stalked forward. "And what exactly do you think you're doing, about to hit my sister's best friend?" He snarled.

Slam-Bam looked around. Why wasn't Zap with Chill? And why was Spyro allowing him to attack him?! Chill was leaning against the rails that led to the beach.

Cynder roared skywards, flaring her wings. "Enough! I know when I'm not wanted," she growled, pushing past the shocked Slam-Bam and angry Trigger Happy and Wham-Shell. She marched over the grass and sat down next to Hex and Fright Rider, while Riley, Zap, and Chill joined her a few moments later.

Slam-Bam got up and shook out his fur. Spyro just stared after Cynder blankly. He squinted and laid down, covering his face with his left paw. "Go," he said in a shaky voice. "Right now."

Trigger Happy stomped his foot. "Nope, not moving a muscle. I'm trying to be your friend again, Spyro..."

Spyro jumped up and did as he had seconds earlier, sinking his orange claws into the ground, flaring his wings, but this time, his furious gaze was shot at them. "I said go! I want to be left alone right now!" He spluttered and coughed violently at the end, his legs buckling. He fell to the ground. He clenched his eyes shut tightly, but that did not stop the single tear that had already formed at the edge of his eye.

Trigger Happy sat beside his friend. "No."

Slam-Bam and Wham-Shell sighed and looked at each other, then at Cynder. _This is all her fault, _Slam-Bam thought angrily.

* * *

It was nearly dark out when Ninjini suddenly burst from her bottle. She began floating around Scarlett madly. "This crystal hasn't been doing anything! Spyro!" She wafted over to him and shook him awake.

Slam-Bam looked up from where he'd been playing "Go Fish" with Wham-Shell. Spyro got to his feet and looked at Ninjini. "What is it?"

"The crystals haven't been doing anything, she's not getting any better!" Ninjini wailed. She went back over to her sister and then closed her eyes, holding her hands out over Scarlett. "_Sana illud!_" A pink aura flowed from her fingertips around Scarlett. But when it touched her, it immediately disappeared into the air without a trace. Ninjini opened her eyes wide, backing away, looking as though she'd just seen a ghost. "Spyro, she hasn't been getting better since we laid her there!" Ninjini began to float back and forth, as though pacing.

Spyro rushed over to the downed giant, examining her. "I don't understand. Whirlwind's rainbows should have stabilized her and then the crystal shard should have healed her the rest of the way... she should have gotten up a long time ago..."

Ninjini bit her bottom lip and stared at her sister with a piteous look on her face. She hovered close to Scarlett's side, and pressed her ear to her sister's chest.

Slam-Bam looked closely. Scarlett's chest wasn't moving at all...

Ninjini shrieked and backed away from her sister in a way that was so fast, she appeared as a bluish-purple blur. She stopped and Slam-Bam awed at her as he saw tears streaming down her face. "Spyro, she's dead! She's ice cold, she's been dead for at least two hours!" Her voice seemed to die at 'hours'.

Slam-Bam felt his heart drop like a stone in water. Scarlett? A giant? Dead? The words didn't make sense in one sentence together. He and Wham-Shell exchanged an equally thunderstruck look.

Spyro backed away from Ninjini and Scarlett for a second. "Wait... how?" He pressed on her with his muzzle. He flinched when he touched her and then backed away. Fury blazed in his red eyes. He flew into the air and flapped there for a second, before opening his jaws and letting out a roar.

"Skylanders! FRONT AND CENTER!" He snarled.

Slam-Bam and Wham-Shell were there in an instant. Trigger Happy had long since gone over to Drobot and Drill Sergeant, and was watching close by with an eager look on his face.

Spyro shot a fireball straight below him, and when it hit the ground, it blazed upwards like a campfire. "Listen! Scarlett is dead! Polarity is dead! Who do we have to blame for this?!" He demanded from the Skylanders below him.

Ninjini looked up from her sister and her eyes began to glow a dark, bloodred. "GEO! ACE!"

Whirlwind walked closer to the fire and then yelled up at Spyro, "ACE! GEO!"

"Right!" Spyro lashed his tail. "Are we going to let them do it again?!"

Slam-Bam joined in with all the other voices in the air. He shouted, "NO!" As loud as he could.

Cynder and Riley were bunched together next to Hex, Fright Rider, Ghost Roaster, and Eye-Brawl across from Slam-Bam's group, and he was glad to see that even though Cynder had been so ready to tear Spyro apart with her words earlier that day, they looked just as inspired by his sudden burst of anger as he did.

"Now, we're going to take them out! It's time we shed some of their blood!" Spyro roared back down at them. Slam-Bam's spirits rose high. Spyro had explained that Geo's weakness was water the day Fright had been blown to bits. He was a water Skylander-he'd have an advantage over Geo.

Spyro's eyes, if possible, blazed in increased anger. He opened his jaws and flames swirled over his fangs, forming the biggest fireball Slam-Bam had ever seen. The blazing ball, when released, went skywards, and exploded, lighting up the entire sky a bright orange-red. He looked back down over them, his body a silhouetted against the great burning sky.

Slam-Bam did a four-way fist pump, grinning as wide as he could. He'd never felt more inspired in his life! He could hear all the Skylanders shouting their catchphrases into the air, Fright Rider's "Fear the Spear," Eruptor's "Born to Burn", and even Zook's "Locked and Loaded!"

"We have taken enough losses! If they want war, we'll give it to them! And this is how we're going to do it!" Spyro smiled as he said this.

* * *

"Did the plan work?"

The black-haired, indigo-scaled dragon nodded. "Just as planned. Scarlett's dead."

"Third time's a charm. Anyway, how did you do it without them figuring it out it was you?"

"Easy. I turned Cynder against Spyro, and Spyro managed to convince himself that it was Geo doing all these things. Yeah, right, like that sandcastle can kill Skylanders right under his nose. I almost feel sorry for the guy," the indigo dragon grinned smugly, his pinkish-red eyes glimmering dangerously.

"Good. But don't get too cocky. Some could be hot on your trail."

"Oh please," he threw his head back and laughed. "They won't know what hit them tomorrow. Spyro's sick, so I don't even know why he'd be going into battle. They're blindsighted by anger. Geo will squash them into a pulp."

"Now, now, remember, there are still some others we need to eliminate. Gill Grunt and Trigger Happy are hot on your trail, the last you told me. Or, at least Gill Grunt is. Take him out, and we're good."

The indigo-scaled dragon nodded. "I know, I know. But first, I'll just keep womanizing Jade. You know, if she weren't a blood traitor, I'd be happy to settle down with her..."

"Nonsense! Jade is a filthy blood traitor! She ruined her family's good dragon heritage by being part crystal golem!"

"I know that. All the dragons here are blood traitors. As well as quite a few of the others here. Whirlwind makes my skin crawl, she's half unicorn! And Camo's half plant! And Zap's taken Chill in as a mate!"

"WHAT?!"

"You heard me," he responded.

"These Skylanders stand for everything Deu Sol hates! They must be eliminated!"

"And they will be, just calm down," the black-haired dragon responded, sweeping his tail over the leaves that surrounded him.

"Oh, and remember something else... make sure they don't find out it's you... Kaz."

* * *

**DUN DUN DUN!**

**So, here we are folks! Chapter 11. Alright, so you're finally caught up with everything I have saved on my computer. Now, I won't be updating like every night. ^^'**


	12. Sandcastle (Pt 1)

**_Sandcastle, Pt. 1_**

* * *

Thumpback was standing close to Tree Rex and Crusher on the edge of the island. Spyro had already ordered off the surveillance team-Stealth Elf, Bash, Kaz, and Riley-and they were waiting for their word that Geo was indeed at his homeland.

Spyro was pacing circles around the Core of Light, his tail flicking, coughing every now and again. Cynder was sitting a good ten or so feet away, and she looked torn between saying something to calm him down, and stomping away over to Hex and Fright Rider.

Next to the Tree of Life, Camo and Arbo were deep in conversation. Shroomboom was a few feet away, plucking out the mushrooms from the garden, and moving them over to the Tree of Life's base. Camo growled at him, but Shroomboom took no notice.

Thumpback looked around for Ninjini. He hadn't seen her this morning... she had to have been put on the Portal by now... He looked into the trees behind the Tree of Life, and, just as he had suspected, she was crouched behind there.

Thumpback tried to move slowly towards her, but his big, clumsy feet made that hard. Camo, Shroomboom, Arbo, and Stump Smash moved out of the way for him.

Ninjini looked up at him with her white, soulless eyes. If they had seemed empty before, they were a lot emptier now. She looked back down at the freshly dug earth, her hair falling over her face. "What do you want?" She asked in a watery tone.

Thumpback hated seeing her like this. Though she may have not been the favorite of... well, anyone, nobody liked seeing her as she was now. She had been around Scarlett's grave all of last night, and Thumpback hadn't seen her at all this morning, so he guessed she had been there all of the morning as well.

"Come on, Ninjini, we'll miss the surveillance team's signal if we don't go now," Thumpback tried to comfort her.

Ninjini's swords appeared out of nowhere in her hands. She turned and glared at him. "If you lost your right arm, how would you feel?" She asked.

"Uh... Depressed, I guess...?" Thumpback blinked. That was the oddest question he'd heard in a while.

"If you lost your heart, how would you feel?" She asked another ridiculous question.

"Uh... well, if I got over the whole bein' dead thing, bad...?" Thumpback blinked again.

"Then you obviously cannot know what I am feeling, and never will," Ninjini's words stung. Her swords vanished. "Leave me be. I'll be there in a minute."

That was it? No snide comments about sending Kaz on the surveillance team? No remarks about Spyro's behavior? Nothing about Cynder rejecting him as coldly as she had done? Nothing? Thumpback shook his head. It didn't make any sense. All Whirlwind had done when Polarity had been killed was brood for that evening... and then become a bit more snippy, but he was used to Ninjini's snappy demeanor.

But this wasn't it. He sat down next to her. "Come on, Ninjini, if I'm never gonna know how it feels, then why don't you tell me about it?" Maybe if he could trick her into explaining her feelings, she'd feel better once she had expressed them...

Ninjini's swords reappeared in her hands and they were shaking with the tensity of her grip. She grinded her teeth, as though thinking about it. The swords disappeared again and she nodded. He swore he saw a tear streak down her face. "Okay," she nodded harder. "Okay..."

Thumpback placed his hand on her shoulder. She clenched her jaw and then her eyes, but her mouth didn't stay shut for long. "Scarlett was frozen when I was... we were frozen for over ten thousand years, as you all were... But Scarlett was the closest one by. All we had to do in our freetime was say how pretty the clouds were or how stupid they looked, or play I Spy... with the same old things," Ninjini tried to giggle, but her waterlogged throat caused her to cough.

"Once those weird store men found us, they took us to that store... whatever it's name was. Sold us like any other piece of merchandise. Luckily, we went to Ben and Sheila. He broke us free of a life of solitude, because we managed to be together again, all of us, the giants...

"And then we met the new Skylanders that had formed since we left. Spyro being their leader. I didn't agree with his choice of keeping Cynder as a Skylander. Flashwing and Jade explained to me every detail of what Cynder had done. They once lived in the Dragon Realms, you know.

"After that, I thought Cynder was a monster. I didn't understand her. I wanted nothing to do with her... I never even gave her a chance... Well, until I heard how she kept whipping Geo's tail, and how she saved Riley, no matter how much of an airhead that sister of Zap's is.

"Then he came along! Kaz. What an evil entity! He and Thor stand for everything we Skylanders are against!" Ninjini's swords reappeared in her hands and she stabbed the ground, her hair flying out of her face. Thumpback was now able to see the full extent of the tear stains on her face. She had never looked more disheveled to him, not even when it was ten thousand years ago, and they were battling the Arkeyans... Not when Kelvin was crushed, not when Gnarli disappeared, not anything... She had seemed to have an awkward and cold disposition around deaths, or anything related to it.

Ninjini reclaimed her swords and allowed them to vanish into thin air. "He killed her. I know he did. Kaz. That dragon knows and stands for a lot more than Spyro will ever know. I can't read minds, but I can read magic, and he's full of magic. Dark magic. Evil magic. Ancient magic. He's got to be one of them! No ordinary creature can take out my sister!" Ninjini turned and looked at Thumpback. Tears were streaming down her face even more thickly now. "But most of all... I just want her back. She was the only one who ever really was great friends with me... Twins are supposed to stay together until the end of time. For us, eternity." She shook her head. "But he took all that away. Geo is not to blame. Kaz is."

Thumpback nodded. Though he didn't believe her theory whatsoever, he wasn't about to sit there and show zero support for her when she had just done something so out of character-explaining everything she felt.

Ninjini hugged him suddenly. "Of everyone in Skylands, why me?!"

Thumpback would have loved to explain to her that was a risk of being a Skylander and being famous, but he didn't want to risk her going on a ferocious rampage and exclaiming she wasn't going to be a Skylander any longer. "I'm sorry, Ninjini.. I really am. But we'll get stronger if we weaken Kaz. We can do that by taking out Geo. The less Kaz has to back him up, the more nervous he'll become, and the more likely it'll become he'll snap," Thumpback tried to comfort her.

She nodded, biting her lower lip.

"Skylanders! All here!" Spyro's voice called from the center of the Citadel.

Ninjini curled her lip. "But I'm not happy with him. I'll fight him every step of the way if I have to. He played just as big a part of Scarlett's death as Kaz did. He's, if possible, worse. I hope he roasts in hell," She floated ahead of him, her swords reappearing and staying in her hands as she wafted over to the group of Skylanders forming.

Thumpback wandered out of the trees, casting Scarlett's grave a wishful look. Polarity's grave was close to the Tree of Life as well, but a few feet away from Scarlett's grave.

He followed Ninjini, feeling extremely fearful for what she had meant by her words. When Ninjini was angry, she could be a demon... Like your worst nightmare, come to life. She wasn't afraid to speak her mind, and would openly despise you, no matter what...

Stealth Elf, Bash, Kaz, and Riley were standing before Spyro. Stealth Elf was standing with her daggers drawn, looking thrilled from what Thumpback could see. Bash looked torn between something, but Thumpback had no way of knowing what. Kaz looked nervous, and jumped when Riley shuffled her feet next to him. Riley had a look of what Thumpback swore was bloodlust on her face.

Spyro covered his mouth with his wing and coughed, but then nodded. "Alright. Thanks. Now we need a distraction team... Since only water will do damage to him, I don't want water Skylanders in the distraction team..." Spyro stared at the ground, obviously deep in thought.

Ninjini looked up. "Spyro, I'm going on the distraction team. Me, Whirlwind, Tree Rex, Bouncer, and Cynder."

"Huh?" Spyro looked up at her. She began to move forward, and Eruptor, Hot Dog, Flameslinger, Hex, and Boomer parted for her. He looked at her closely, narrowing his eyes in concentration. "Alright then. Whirlwind, Tree Rex, Bouncer, Cynder, you're going with Ninjini to distract Geo."

Cynder looked at Spyro and then at Ninjini. If she could sense something going wrong between them, she wasn't going to say anything. The dark violet dragoness was sitting by Hex, Ghost Roaster, and Chop Chop. She stood up and walked over to Ninjini. "If you're going to try and pull anything while we're there, you just watch your back," Cynder said to the magic giant threateningly.

Ninjini didn't respond. Her grip tightened on her wishblades.

Whirlwind looked up from where she was laying down next to Drobot. The reddish-green dragon got to his feet and looked at Spyro. "Can I go too?"

"No, Drobot, we'll need you to stay and defend the Citadel. Those dragons are low. Very low. They'll come at us when we're weakest. So no matter what, I want you to stay here and guard the Citadel," Spyro told him. The purple dragon stopped pacing and sat down. "That leaves the assault team."

"And t'at will consist mostly of water Skylanders, correct?" Chill asked, holding up a rather thick ice javelin with a sharply accented ending point.

"That's right. You, Zap, Thumpback, Wham-Shell, Slam-Bam, Gill Grunt, you guys are all a part of the assault team. Along with you, Camo, Shrooomboom, Flameslinger, Fright Rider, Hex, Sunburn, Sonic Boom, and myself will go," Spyro nodded towards the Fire, Life, Air, and Undead Skylanders.

He began pacing circles around the Core again.

Thumpback gathered up the other water Skylanders. He led them over to the top of the staircase that led to the beach.

Chill leaned against the railing and closed her eyes, as though deep in thought. Zap was worse than Spyro with the way he was pacing, back and forth, back and forth, back and forth... Wham-Shell and Slam-Bam were arm-wrestling (with Slam-Bam winning, as usual).

"So, we have to do this Water Fury and then Geo should be finished?" Zap asked nobody directly. He seemed to just be tossing it out there for anyone to answer.

"That's what Spyro said," Gill Grunt responded.

Thumpback watched Ninjini gather up the distraction team. Her swords still hadn't vanished from her fingertips. If anything, she was holding them a lot tighter. She was floating beside Spyro, shooting the purple dragon hate-filled glares.

Bouncer and Tree Rex came ungraciously stomping towards them, causing many of the Skylanders to scatter and avoid them altogether. Whirlwind and Cynder didn't even acknowledge each other, merely watching the giants as they got closer.

Tree Rex put his hand on Ninjini's arm. "Calm down, Ninjini. Let the swords go."

Ninjini jerked her arm away from him and pointed the end of her left wishblade at him. "You shut up! You're not going to treat me like a child now!" Ninjini whipped around and floated to the edge of the island. "Do we leave now, Spyro?" She spat his name like acid.

"Ninjini, stow it!" Spyro snapped at her. "But yes. Go now."

"_Ninjini, stow it!_" Ninjini mocked him. "Sister just died and all he wants me to do is stow it. Fine, I'll stow it alr-"

"Ninjini, it's time to leave," Tree Rex interrupted her rant.

Ninjini nodded. "Alright." She began swirling and then vanished into her bottle, and a purple-pink spray went up into the air. Tree Rex and Bouncer began to shrink, growing smaller, smaller, and smaller, until they were the same size as any regular Skylander. Whirlwind and Cynder made sure to stay far enough away from the mist to avoid being shrunk to the size of bugs.

Ninjini burst from her bottle again, coming into contact with the bright mist. She too shrank. "Alright, on the count of three, grab onto my shoulder, and on Eon's last name don't let go!"

"What happens if they let go?" Zap asked aloud from Thumpback's side.

"They disappear in a lost spiral and rift of space and time," Thumpback responded vaguely.

"Oh. Cool," Zap grinned mischievously.

"About as cool as cancer," Chill muttered from the side. Her arm was still bandaged, and Thumpback suddenly wondered whether she should be going into battle or not... She had been awfully quiet yesterday, staying mostly with Zap. Then again, Ninjini's teasing her when she had kissed Zap in front of everyone hadn't exactly helped (rather, the two had nearly killed each other over it).

Zap wandered over to her. "Are you really sure you want to go?"

"Of course! I didn't spend last night practicing my Call of the Narwhal attack for not'ing!" She exclaimed. She huffed and crossed her arms. "I will fight, Zap, I don't care what you say about it."

"Okay, okay," Zap backed off a bit, nodding. Thumpback shook his head. Why did Zap never defend himself when Chill undermined him like that? It was obvious to a blind Molekin the guy was only worried about her. Thumpback wondered if there was a thing such as too much respect...

He turned his back to Ninjini. She vanished, taking the others with her. Ninjini had teleportational powers, but they were extremely hard for her to control, and she had learned the hard way how devastating that could be... Poor Gnarli!

Spyro cleared his throat after a fit of coughing. "Assault team! Front and center!"

Thumpback stomped over to the purple dragon, followed by the other water Skylanders, Camo, Shrooomboom, Flameslinger, Fright Rider, Hex, Sunburn, and Sonic Boom. Sonic Boom had to practically shake Mayflower off her leg.

The small griffin was clinging to her leg like a fly stuck in a spider's web. "Mum, I don't want you to go with the big, mean dragons! What if they get you too?!"

Sonic Boom turned and licked the small griffin's forehead. "Now, I know I trained you to be stronger than that, Mayflower. Go back over to Storm, Lionheart, and Godspeed. Jet-Vac will take care of you while I'm gone." Mayflower nodded solemnly and slunk off back towards Jet-Vac, who was sitting on the ground, trying to keep all of Sonic Boom's babies' attention while the female griffin wandered over to the assault team.

Sonic Boom got right in Spyro's face. "If I get hurt out there, I'm blaming it on you," she said darkly, taking a seat a few feet away.

Thumpback pulled his anchor from around his waist and slung it over his shoulder. "So, how're we getting there? We can't be too far behind the distraction team, or Geo'll tear them to shreds."

"I know-" Spyro broke off and coughed and spluttered madly.

Gill Grunt, in a surprising move, ran over to his friend. "Spyro, I don't think ya should go," the gillman said guiltily. "If we lose you, we lose everythin'."

Spyro looked at the gillman for a second, as though trying to decide whether Gill Grunt was going to snap at him for his choice of actions, or whether he was genuinely worried. Spyro looked away from him sharply. "It's okay, Gill Grunt. I'll be fine. I can shoot water, too, remember? I'm not tot-" Spyro broke into another fit of coughing. "-totally useless."

"No, but you're sick."

Riley came up from the side and stood at about neck-height of the mystic purple dragon, but she obviously found no problems with it. She was willing to speak her mind, that was for sure. "Spyro, Cynder really doesn't want me to tell you this, but she's worried sick about you. She doesn't want you going into this battle, and neither does anybody else."

"Oh well!" Spyro flared his wings and stood up. "Look, Geo has gone way too personal this time! He took out a giant, an Elder Elemental, one of the very beings we look up to, one of the very beings we owe our very existence to, because they took out the Iron Fist of Arkus, even at the ultimate cost!" His red eyes glinted. "And I'm not going to sit back here like an idiot while you guys are out there risking your hides for Skylands! I will not make you guys do anything I'm not willing to do myself."

Gill Grunt suddenly hugged his neck out of the blue. "Okay, then, if ya are, I wanna let ya know somethin'. I'm sorry for the way I've been actin' lately. I was wrong. Wrong 'bout Kaz, wrong 'bout you. I just don't want ya hurt."

Spyro smiled. "That's fine, Gill, but why're you acting so down? What, are you all convinced we're dead meat?" He looked around, genuine curiosity on his face.

Riley shuffled her feet and backed away in embarrassment. Flashwing, Jade, and Kaz all exchanged nervous glances. Thumpback cast Crusher, who was across the Citadel from him, a hopeless glance. If this dragon had somehow managed to kill Scarlett right under their noses... How were they any different? He was a giant, for Pete's sake, and Scarlett had been one, too! And she was taken right beneath their chins!

Spyro snorted. "And here I thought you were all actually inspired to try and fight this guy."

Chill balled her fists, her hurt arm looking about ready to give out from the stress. "You listen here, you! We are Skylanders, just like you and we will fight! We are not scared!"

"You'd be a fool not to be scared. But it's the fact that you still want to fight that's the good part," Spyro told her. He smiled. "Come on guys, I don't doubt any of you. Flynn!"

"Yeah, yeah, it's almost ready! Keep your purple scales on!" The pilot patted his dinghy. "I had to finish making it bigger for you from five A.M. this morning! I don't wanna hear nothing!"

Flynn was standing by the enlarged dinghy on its beige-white pedestal. He looked exhausted, and his aviator hat had tons of stains on it. His clothes were dirty, and he had tools of every kind splayed out on a towel close by.

Spyro looked nervous now. "Is it ready?"

"Yeah. Go ahead," Flynn sighed and wiped sweat from his forehead, walking over to the towel and wrapping the tools all up inside. "It should work fine."

"Should?" Thumpback echoed.

"What?" Flynn murmured.

"Nothing," Thumpback responded, trying to whistle, but his huge whale-lips made it impossible.

"Come on-" Spyro spluttered, "-in." He got inside the dinghy. Even though Flynn had made the cab to it larger, it was still a tight fit with him inside. Chill shoved away from him and stumbled down next to Wham-Shell and Gill Grunt.

"Eon-blessed-dinghy... Spyro, please tell me we get t'ere soon," she said in annoyance.

Spyro nodded. "We will, don't worry."

Zap stuffed himself between Wham-Shell and Chill, pushing Wham-Shell towards Slam Bam and Thumpback. He huffed and stared forward. "This would be a lot more fun if I could breathe."

"I'm surrounded by idiots," Chill exasperatedly put her hand to her face.

Spyro took the wheel of the dinghy. "Will all of you cool i-" he broke off and began coughing wildly at the side of the wheel.

"Spyro?" Flameslinger vaguely looked in the direction of the purple dragon. Though he could see using the fire of life within everyone, as well as the flames on his arrows and whenever he used his blazing dash ability, it was likely that the elf archer would have issues figuring out who was who on the dinghy without listening for them.

"Spyro!" Gill Grunt shoved Hex and Sonic Boom out of the way and leaned over Spyro as he shuddered and fell to the floor. Spyro now was lying behind the wheel, on the floor, looking exhausted. His eyes rolled up in his head as he spoke.

"Take them... to Geo's isle... I'll be fine..." Then the magic dragon went unconscious.

Thumpback didn't want to shuffle his feet (that would likely bring down the whole dinghy!) but he felt nervous standing this close to the downed Spyro.

"What do we do now?" Rider asked in a hushed whisper, leaning towards Hex without realizing it. She coughed abruptly and he had to have figured it out, because he cleared his throat and got off Fright, looking down at Spyro. His cheeks flushed a slight red. "Am not!" He suddenly exclaimed, glaring at Fright.

"Can you be insane some other time?" Camo rolled his eyes. The life dragon then went to the front, gently moving Spyro out the way. "Spyro would have wanted us to continue the mission, right? So are we going to sit here and stare at him or are we going to do it?"

"We're going to do it, duh," Chill called out.

"'Course we are! My shrooms will beat that big sandcastle into the ground!" Shroomboom exclaimed proudly.

"Has anybody told him only water attacks work on Geo?" Slam Bam asked Thumpback.

Thumpback blinked. "No idea."

Camo smirked and gently hit the ground with his tail. A large melon began sprouting behind Rider. Thumpback was about to tell the dark elf, but suddenly, it exploded, sending seeds and red liquid all over him, Hex, and Gill Grunt.

Rider jumped. "Really, Camo?! Of all the times to pull one of your brilliant pranks-here?!"

"Of course," Camo laughed. "Someone needs to cheer all you depressing people up."

Hex waved her hands and the liquid and seeds disappeared from her dress. "I hope you never do that to me again, because if I ever find another melon seed on my dress I'll kill you," she growled.

Camo laughed a lot more nervously now and then whispered to Sonic Boom, "She's joking, right?"

Sonic Boom rolled her eyes. "And here I thought Camo was the only sane one here..."

Rider began slinging the red liquid off his robes and arms, splattering it on the floor and at the others.

"Watch the boots! I just got t'ese new ones!" Chill shouted at him shrilly, leaping out of the reach of the red liquid by scooting up against the side of the dinghy.

Rider glared at her. "I'm not Hex, I can't just make it vanish!"

Thumpback tilted his head in thought. That was strange... He and Hex were practically one in the same, except Hex had been a sorceress. But Hex now controlled dark magic, something most Undead beings controlled just because they were Undead. But with that said, Rider had never shown any power over any sort of darkness. In fact, all he'd ever used to attack was his spear with Fright's help. Thumpback shrugged and decided that either the dark elf really liked that spear, or didn't like using dark powers.

Hex pointed at Rider in a way that made her hand look like a gun. Rider gulped and covered his face. "H-hey, it wasn't anything against ya-"

"Hold still, Rider, you're shivering worse than an Enfuego Chompy stuck in the Glacier Gully," she muttered. She said something foreign, and all the stains on Rider and his clothing vanished into thin air. "There, happy?"

Rider nodded. "Yeah. Thanks." He gave Hex a nervous look before clearing his throat and pulling on his suit's collar, as though it was too hot or tight around his neck. "Camo, are we almost there?"

Thumpback's arm tensed. He may not be the most talkative, intelligent, or the most inspiring of the giants, but he was definitely able to take out some big walking beach!

Camo nodded. "Should be coming there any second now. Look over the side, Thumpback, are we here?"

Thumpback leaned over the side and looked down. They were hovering above an abandoned island, and further ahead, he could faintly hear battle sounds and see what looked like a swirling, tan cloud...

"We have to get there fast! We must've taken too long!" Thumpback exclaimed.

"Hold tight to your undies, haha!" Camo laughed as he steered the dinghy in the direction of the island. Sonic Boom shot him a scolding look, but ducked low and sunk her claws into the flooring. Thumpback grabbed onto the side of the dinghy with his large hands, suddenly feeling quite seasick.

Thumpback felt the air become warmer. Flameslinger suddenly reached for the railing of the dinghy and clung to it. "I can't see a thing!" He wailed.

"Then take off that dumb blindfold!" Hex threw him a scathing look, but the elven archer looked up pointedly.

"No-ugh, what's going in my mouth...?" Flameslinger began spitting out grit from his mouth, and Thumpback realized the swirling tan clouds were actually sand!

"Camo, get us down!" Thumpback heard Gill Grunt call.

Rider was cowering in the corner beside Fright. "Oh, what a nightmare, it's just a repeat, all over again! This time whoever gets blasted to bits might be gone for good, oh, please, how could I ever forgive myself? How could Spyro ever forgive us? Oh, dear! Fright, I really don't-"

The skeletal ostrich, unbothered by the sand whirlwind around him, squawked harshly at Rider. The dark elf jumped to his feet, looking furious. "I am NOT-Ugh!" The sand in the air became even thicker, and then, the dinghy seemed to hit something-hard.

They were launched outside of the dinghy, scattered all across the island.

` "HAHAHA! STUPID SKYLANDAHS!" The sandstorm continued to rage, and the voice seemed to come from everywhere at once. "Don't ya get it? You're all mine! Dead! Just like Scarlett and Polarity!"

"No we're not!" Thumpback staggered to his feet, feeling dazed. "We'll fight you until the end, you listen here!"

"Haha! No, you listen here, _Thumpback,_" the voice sneered in its odd accent. It reminded him of Dino-Rang's. "You're dead, mate! Dead meat! You got about as much chance of leavin' here alive as Polarity had of escapin' Ace! NONE!"

"FEAR THE DARK!" Hex's battle cry raged throughout the air, and Thumpback swore it came from his left, but he couldn't tell with all the sand circling him. He began to feel sore on his right arm, and looked at it. Horrified, he realized the sand was literally going to grind their skin off!

Right as he realized this, the sandstorm stopped. The sand began to whirl and morph into the shape of a huge, winged creature with golden-yellow eyes and a rock-plated tail. Thumpback could finally see what was going on... but he didn't like it.

Spyro was still unconscious, and was ominously close to the edge of the island. Next to the unconscious dragon was a dark brown, muddy dragon with sky blue eyes. His entire body appeared to be made from solid rock. He looked down at Spyro, then back at the huge sand dragon that had formed from the sandstorm.

Thumpback looked around for the others. Hex and Fright Rider were standing side by side, glaring at the sand dragon through slits for eyes, and had an almost identical expression of hatred on their faces. Hex's hands were glowing bright purple, and Rider's eyes were glowing a pale violet-blue color. The blue orbs on his chest and forehead were going ecstatic-the electricity within them was going absolutely haywire!

Fright's eyes, which were also blue with bright, sky-blue electricity dancing along them, was also going nuts. But only the skeletal ostrich appeared to be having any trouble with it. He had his beak clenched shut, and his toes were digging deep into the earthy ground.

Thumpback saw a disoriented Flameslinger, Zap, and Chill tossed only a few feet away. Flameslinger stumbled forward a bit, but then stopped moving. "I'm completely turned around," he muttered. "Camo! Where the heck are we?!"

Camo came streaking out of some bushes and pushed Flameslinger to the ground. "Shh!" The life dragon snarled in his face, holding his mouth shut, staring up at Geo with wide, terrified eyes.

Zap and Chill got up and glared at Geo acidically. Chill reared back her left arm and smirked. "You just made me real mad," she said darkly. Thrusting her arm forward, she shouted at the top of her lungs, "_Narwhal!"_

Her arm began to shake and her ice javelins began to glow. Thumpback could _feel _the ground shaking... the earth quaking... Closing her eyes in concentration, a huge wave of water erupted from nowhere behind her, a large, gray whale-like creature with a horn the length of the Citadel pointing from its forehead. It slammed into Geo, and the water as well as the narwhal vanished.

Geo screeched furiously and his front side began to leak away. The sand dripped off him and into a pile on the ground. He stared in horror at the sand falling off him. Thumpback swore he saw a vein pulsing from the sand dragon's head as he turned to Chilll and Zap.

Chill was panting and on her right knee. She was cradling her injured arm. The narwhal attack, after having crashed, must have sapped every bit of strength the Thaumaturge could muster. Zap, however, looked far less than spent. He bared rows of sharp, deadly teeth, and began zooming around Geo, leaving water slime in his wake.

Geo hissed and extended his sandy wings, batting the wind until he was far from the ground. "STUPID! That water trick won't work on me up here!"

Zap went back over to Chill and stood protectively in front of her, arching his back and hissing something incomprehensible.

Thumpback looked away from there and continued to look around. Where was the distraction team? Ninjini, Whirlwind, Cynder, Tree Rex, Bouncer?

"_Indespectus caecus!_"

Thumpback whipped around to see Ninjini floating a few feet away, blood pouring down her left arm. She had her right arm raised, although whatever the incantation she had just said meant, it had done nothing to Geo.

"Ninjini, it's no use! Leave it to us!" He shouted to her.

"Shut up, it was what was keeping us alive while you slowpokes took your sweet time! Oh, and how wonderful of Spyro to be taking a nap!" She spat disgustedly, shooting the purple dragon a despicable look.

The muddy and rock-covered dragon that had been standing next to him was still there. He looked like a statue, but Thumpback knew all too well he was real.

The rock dragon locked eyes with Geo, but otherwise made no move.

_We've got to get Spyro away from him, _Thumpback thought to himself. _But how...?_

Whirlwind came rocketing out of the clouds. She beat the wind with her wings, causing powerful storm clouds to be summoned all around her. She said something Thumpback didn't understand, and the clouds turned into missiles, launching themselves at Geo with incredible speed. Whirlwind sped around the dragon and landed close to Ninjini.

"Ninjini, don't feed them lies! You blew our cover! And where's Cynder and Tree Rex?" Whirlwind spat.

"I'm over here!" Tree Rex stood up from behind several rocks a good two hundred yards behind Ninjini. Thumpback couldn't tell for sure, but he thought he was back at his normal, staggering height.

Cynder came staggering out from behind him. "Ninjini, you idiot! You've ruined the whole plan!" She snarled. She had a deep cut on the web of her wing. "And look! I couldn't fly if I tried!"

"Oh, shut up!" Ninjini shouted over to her. She went to charge Geo, but Thumpback dived onto the ground, sliding toward her. He effectively managed to get in her way. Standing back upright, he pushed her back.

"This is not your fight!" He told her.

"Like hell it's not!" She took her sword and slashed his shoulder armor with it. "Now move or I might do it somewhere more important! These guys are with Kaz! They need to be eliminated!"

"And they will be!" Thumpback felt terrified. What if Ninjini really _did _decide to hurt him? He shook the thought from his head. _Impossible! That would mean she really is insane... _"You just have to let us do it. You'll only get yourself hurt. Now, would Scarlett want you killing yourself only the day after she's died? That'd be a pretty jerk move on your part, if I must say."

She looked speechless. Her hands were trembling violently, her swords shaking. She finally nodded, allowing her swords to vanish. "What kind of a sister am I...?" She turned around and floated away, disappearing into her bottle once she was a good three hundred or so yards away.

Thumpback whirled around. Whether Ninjini believed it or not, it wasn't Kaz that had taken Scarlett's life, it was Geo. This dragon had taken her life without remorse, and now... he needed to be punished. Thumpback launched himself forward on his belly, and began to spout as much water as possible from his blowhole. Geo hissed and the water struck his front left leg. He was still busy trying to fight off Whirlwind's clouds.

His leg lost a significant amount of sand. It looked barely attached to his body. Thumpback smiled. "Now, you see what happens when you hurt us?" Thumpback roared. "WE COME BACK STRONGER!"

"I wouldn't think so," Geo sneered. "Boulder! Forget Spyro! I remember something Corpse told me about another friend of ours..." Geo stalked forward, lashing his tail out quicker than lightning at Hex. It clocked her in the head and she dropped to the ground like a fly.

"Hex!" Rider jumped down from Fright's back and leaned over her. Geo guffawed loudly, and then used his wing to slap Fright to the side. Rider looked absolutely terrified, as though he had no idea what he was supposed to be doing. He wrapped his left arm around Hex's torso and began to pull her with him as he backed away. He brandished his spear with his right arm, and shouted, "Get back! And leave Fright alone!"

"Ah, precious Frig-Don't even think about it, Slam Bam!" Geo turned and glared at Slam Bam, baring ferocious white fangs. The ice yeti stopped charging at him, looking awestruck. "How'd he know I was coming at him?!"

"I'm a huge, cursed, godlike dragon," Geo snorted scornfully. "I knew you were coming long before you got he-GYAH!" Geo hissed and whirled around to face Zap and Gill Grunt, who were side by side, spewing as much water as they could at him. Geo lost a large amount of sand on his back thighs. He flew into the air and then looked around wildly. His eyes came to a rest on the muddy rock dragon.

"Boulder! Take Fright's skull!" Geo ordered as he slammed his tail onto the skeletal ostrich.

Thumpback shut his eyes. He did not want to see. He did not want to see what would happen afterwards. If only he could have shut his ears...


	13. Sandcastle (Pt 2)

**_Sandcastle, Pt. 2_**

* * *

Hex could see nothing but blackness. It was completely dark in her field of vision, but she could hear things...

"Fright!"

Rider's voice sounded high and panicky. She didn't understand why. Why wasn't he sleeping?

"You get your filthy claws off of Fright, you-!" Rider's voice became a lot clearer. Her vision became slightly brighter, and images flashed in front of her eyes... Geo attacking them... A rock dragon standing over Spyro... The battle!

She whipped open her eyes and floated unsteadily to her feet. Looking around, she saw Geo laughing maniacally at Rider, who was standing over the rock dragon. The dragon had his tail hanging over the edge of the island, and had his eyes squinted shut, as though in pain. Rider's spear was on the ground, and he had his hand on the rock dragon's shoulder.

Hex looked between Geo, Rider, and the small muddy dragon. "Rider! Get back over here, you fool!"

"He's killed Fright!" Rider's eyes began glowing a bright orange. Hex blinked. _He can't use any magical powers, he told me that! The only reason he was able to help me earlier was because I gave him the temporary power to shoot an orb! _But Rider was glaring down at the rock dragon with his eyes glowing bright orange. The rock dragon yelped and dug its claws into the ground, as though in even more pain.

Hex sighed. Rider had told her he had something wrong with him, but had refused to tell her what. He'd snap at her and sometimes he'd pretend like he didn't even know what she was talking about. If this was it, she didn't see why magical powers were so wrong. But she couldn't stand seeing him so angry. Besides, Geo could blast him into oblivion standing out in the open like that, especially to protect his minion!

"_Mortem Prohibere_!" She shouted. While that was the incantation's name, in English, it would mean "stop death". Since Rider had the essence of the undead in him, it would force him to stop whatever he was doing.

Rider groaned and looked as though he had whiplash. He backed away, touching his own face a couple of times. He then turned around and looked at Hex with wide, terrified eyes. He slowly crept closer to her, the entire time, Geo laughed like a hyena.

Once he reached her he knelt to the ground and buried his face in his hands. "You have to go." He said, his voice cracking. "You have to help the others with the Water Fury. I can't. I can't be around any of you without Fright."

Hex rolled her eyes. "Why are you such a drama queen? And watch out!" Hex dove at Rider, shoving herself and him out of the way of Geo's sandball. He wasn't amused any longer.

"Pathetic. I thought dark elves were more... magical then this. Isn't that right, Rider?" Geo sneered.

Rider glared up at him, grabbing his halberd and clenching his fists around it. "Hex, go." He said quietly.

"What?" Hex snorted scornfully. "I can't just leave you here."

He turned around and glowered at her. "Go. Now!"

"Rider, that's not going to happen," she replied icily. How could she leave him alone to fight this huge, godlike dragon when he had absolutely no magical powers that she knew of?

He shoved her backwards and began to shout. "You can't be around me when Fright isn't here! Last time, he was just blown apart! But now, he's dead! I won't stay like this for long... You have to go or it will get worse!" He turned back to Geo. "I'll hold him off. Go help Thumpback and the others."

Hex dusted off her gown and glared back at him. "You have a lot of nerve to be telling me what to do!"

Rider hollered at her again. "I said go!"

Hex growled. "Fine! I guess I will!" She whipped around and glided away, straight towards Thumpback and the others who were gathered on the edge of the island. Rider blinked and then turned back to Geo, brandishing his halberd.

"Geo, your fight is with me now!" He snarled.

"Oh please. Soon, you'll turn right against them. And either way, you're no match for my power, Rider," Geo lashed his tail and opened his jaws, spraying sand everywhere.

Hex headed towards the others. Thumpback blinked at her as she got closer. "That was awfully cold-hearted, Hex! And we need Spyro, you just left him out there!"

"Shut up, Thumpback, I am cold-hearted!" She snapped at him. It was true. Ever since her corruption, she had noticed that she was nowhere near as comforting or nice as she had been when she was just a regular sorceress… Just one of the joys of being Hex. "And one of you all can go and get the dumb purple dragon!" To be completely honest, she was terrified for Rider. She cared about him deeply… but she hated being brushed aside like that.

"Boy, she's angry," Slam-Bam whispered into Wham-Shell's ear. Hex shot an orb at him and he barely managed to dodge it.

"You shut up too!" She hissed. She wasn't going to listen to any of them. She had tried to help Rider. She had… but he had turned and told her off for merely caring for him. She wasn't going to care for him if that was how he was going to treat her!

"Hex, please just go get Spyro," Sonic Boom came wandering up to her. "We can keep Geo distracted."

"Oh right, like Rider's going to let you," she spat. "He'll force you right back over here."

"Is it just me, or is Rider glowing...?" Flameslinger pointed vaguely in Rider's direction. "I feel like he has fire all around him... Oh dear, is he getting burned alive?!"

"No, Flameslinger, he's not, but he is glowing," Hex looked back in his direction. She wasn't about to leave him completely alone... He couldn't defeat Geo alone, and that dumb dragon needed to be taken down. She rushed out and shot several phantom orbs at Geo. He whirled away from Rider and snarled at her, his tail flicking awfully close to her gown.

She then saw Rider. He looked as though he was engulfed in flames. His entire body was covered in it, but he appeared to not be feeling it at all. His eyes was glowing a bright red, and he was hovering an inch or so over the ground.

Looking past Rider, she saw Spyro. He was still sprawled out on the ground, but he was stirring. Hex was gliding towards him, but Cynder suddenly jumped out next to him and covered him with her own body. "Hex!" She called. "What on Skylands is Rider doing? I've never seen anything like it!"

Hex felt anger pulse in her veins. "Why should I care?!" She spat. "We need Spyro!"

Ninjini shot out of the trees a few feet away. "I know what he's doing!" Ninjini's eyes were wide and her breathing rapid. "I've always felt something strange in Rider's magic signature, but I never knew...!" She charged out to battle. Rider continued to float upwards in the air.

"_Coniuro Aqua!_" Ninjini held up her hands and water began blasting out of her fingertips like a hose. Geo hissed and took flight.

"I am so annoyed with all of you!" He roared. He dove at Ninjini, shielding his face with his wings. She continued to blast him, causing his wings to appear to have deep tears in them. But once he was close enough to her, he slapped her hands away with what was left of his wings and tried to bite her throat.

Ninjini ducked but his teeth caught her suit, tearing away most of the back side and her bottle. All that was keeping it from falling off was her belt. But her bottle was gone.

"My bottle!" She shrieked.

Hex got closer to Cynder and Spyro. "Cynder, help me carry him over there. Once we're there I can force him awake and we can commence with the water fury. Where's Tree Rex, Bouncer, and Whirlwind?"

"Whirlwind was knocked unconscious while you were out of it. Bouncer and Tree Rex tried to get her back into the trees. They should still be there," Cynder talked with her without looking away from Rider. "Hex... I don't think we're going to need to do a Water Fury. Look at Rider!"

Hex refused to look at Rider. "Who cares what that idiot is doing! Just get Spyro and let's go!"

"Wait a minute... Rider!" Cynder's scales turn to black and she flattened out into shadow as she ran forward. Hex watched her and found the dragoness was heading straight for Rider. The dark elf was having trouble keeping up the attack he was doing. Cynder appeared next to him and Rider's attack broke. He fell back to the ground, gasping for breath. He was no longer encircled in flames, and looked the same as he did any other time.

Geo looked perplexed as he batted away Ninjini. "What? Without Fright, he should be willing to attack anyone, using any sort of dark-powered attack, no questions asked! Unless... BOULDER!"

The muddy rock dragon, everyone having forgotten he was there, was still sitting innocently next to the edge of the island, his tail hanging over the edge. Geo stomped towards him, his torn wings flared. "Show me what you're holding with your tail!"

Boulder bared his teeth and flicked his tail. Fright's skull came flying from the end of it and hit the ground a few feet away from Rider, the blue eyes faintly flickering with life. Slowly, he began to build himself back up with the rest of his bones lying around.

"Guess what? I never listened. Fought against you. All the time. Fighting. I am with the Skylanders! Can't change that!" Boulder hissed.

Ninjini began firing water at Geo again. It appeared to Hex that she was protecting Boulder, but it didn't stay that way for long. She rounded on Boulder, her wishblades returning to her hands. "Liar!" She spat. "You are NOT with the Skylanders! You made the decision to join Geo long ago! You wanted to be with him! And now... you'll pay the price for ever being on the same side as Kaz!"

Boulder cowered beneath her in fear. "Kaz? Kaz-!" He was cut off by Ninjini slashing her swords at him. Boulder barely dodged her wishblades, and his back legs slipped over the edge of the island. "Please! I swear! I'm against them!"

"You might be! But you've done evil things to others willingly! My magic sense indicates you've ended the lives of at least thirty Mabu! Possibly some Molekin! In fact, you nearly had Cynder killed!" She placed her sword to his neck. "And I will avenge everyone!" She slashed outward with her sword, straight at him.

Hex shut her eyes. She didn't need to have them open to know that Ninjini's magical swords had cut straight through the dragon's neck. Ninjini's wishblades had a magical force-field around them… that meant they could cut through anything. Titanium if she wanted. So rock would have been no trouble. When she opened them again, Boulder was gone, and Ninjini was coated in blood. None of it her own.

Spyro stirred and was awake a few seconds later. He looked around confusedly. "Hex...? Cynder...? Rider...? Ninjini? What's happened?!" He demanded.

"You've been out cold. Come on, we have to use the Water Fury!" Hex grabbed Spyro's front left paw and made a mad dash for the other side of the island. Geo roared in laughter.

"Haha! Thank ya, Ninjini. Been meanin' to get rid of that mate for a while now," he grinned sadistically. "Nice to know some other person hates him as much as I do."

Spyro gaped at Ninjini in horror. "What the _hell _happened to her?!"

"It's not her blood, it's Boulder's!" Hex responded impatiently, rushing past Rider and Cynder. Cynder was crouched over him trying to wake him up, but the dark elf did not respond. He looked to be unconscious.

"I didn't get rid of him for you!" Ninjini snarled back at Geo. "I did it because he was evil! Just like you!" She began firing spurts of water at him. His wings torn, he had no way of dodging. He roared and sent sandballs flying in her direction.

The ninja genie smiled and deflected the sand with her enchanted swords. "Guess we don't need the Water Fury to take you out!"

Geo hissed. "Yeah, right! You can't kill me with such mediocre splashes! I'll regenerate before it kills me!" As he said this, the holes in his wings seemed to get distinctly smaller.

Spyro took the lead, pulling Hex. "Come on, there's not much-" he broke off and coughed a bit, before continuing. "-time!"

Hex nodded. "Right! Alright, now how...?"

Spyro stopped once he was close to Thumpback. Panting, he began giving orders. "Thumpback, get behind Gill Grunt, Wham-Shell, Zap, and Slam Bam! Chill, you need to get in front! Hex, you and I are going to stand next to Chill!" Spyro staggered over to Chill and glared straight at Geo.

Hex got next to him. "What about Rider, Cynder, Ninjini, and the others?" She asked.

"Thought you weren't worried about Rider?" Shroomboom asked from the sidelines, looking genuinely confused.

"Can it, spore-for-brains!" Hex snapped at him.

"They'll be fine. The Water Fury we practiced is set to only work on Earth Elementals, none of which are here besides Geo," Spyro said. "Thumpback, Blowhard! Gill Grunt, Zap, Slam Bam, Wham-Shell, conjure ice or water and match it up with Thumpback's Blowhard! Chill, conjure an ice wall and throw it straight up! Hex, conjure water, match it with the others, and then send it flying at Geo!" He opened his jaws and water began to appear within his jaws.

Thumpback began spurting water from his blowhole, while Zap, Gill Grunt, and Wham-Shell shot water straight up with it. Slam Bam threw ice upwards, which was melted into regular water upon hitting the warmer waters around it. Hex pointed at the water in midair and yelled, "_Aquae Supernatet!_"

The water stayed floating in the air. Hex concentrated hard and keeping it up as well as conjuring water in her other hand. Spyro roared and blasted water at the water that was floating lazily in the air, and Chill bashed several ice blocks skywards with her shield, exhaustedly falling to the ground afterwards. The ice blocks melted as well upon contact with the hotter waters.

Hex began firing water from her fingertips like a hose as well, and, with great effort, threw her arms forward. The water went flying in a colossal tidal wave at Geo. Hex had to keep holding her arms forward and had to concentrate hard in order for the attack to keep working. Her arms felt like they were on fire as she did this.

She opened her eyes briefly and grinned at Geo's horrorstruck expression. All she remembered was a screech, a roar, and a hissing sound, and then, nothing. Grinning, she fell to the ground, feeling extremely weak. Her part in the Water Fury had been incredibly tedious... She blacked out.

* * *

Hex woke up as they were heading back to the Citadel. A chorus of cheers and exclamations were going on. Camo, Sunburn, Sonic Boom, Zap, and Rider seemed to be doing most of it. Fright was standing next to Rider, fully repaired, his eyes dancing with bright blue electricity. Rider's orbs were also going haywire.

Spyro was sprawled out on the ground, his head in Gill Grunt's lap. He blinked at her and smiled. "Hi, Hex. Not too tired, are you? We should be getting back to the Citadel any second now."

Rider turned and looked at her as well. His white eyes, if possible, lit up brighter. "Hex! I thought you were hurt or something!"

"Ha, she was," Camo smirked at her from behind the steering wheel. He and Sunburn began talking at once, saying the same thing. "Rider and Hex, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" The two dragon hybrids began laughing loudly, leaning on each other's shoulders to hold themselves up.

Hex normally would have been furious, but the events of the battle were replaying in her mind… All up to Geo's defeat. She was too ecstatic with the defeat of Geo to care. "We beat Geo!" She exclaimed suddenly.

"Yeah, when did you notice?" Sonic Boom's unusually mischievous tone caught her off guard. Hex smirked back at her.

"Wait, she was hurt?" Rider furrowed his eyebrows and frowned at Camo. "Why's that funny?"

"Boy, he really is dim, isn't he?" Bouncer asked Tree Rex, who shook his head in exasperation.

"I don't get it," Rider frowned harder and crossed his arms, looking deep in thought.

Hex felt an impulse to make a nasty remark, especially after the way he had treated her in the battle with Geo, but she decided against it. Besides… he had said something was wrong with him… Maybe that had been an effect of his 'issue'? "Don't think too hard or you'll hurt yourself," she teased at last.

"Haha! That's a classic! Hey Sunburn, we gotta use that one in one of our pranks," Camo grinned.

"Forget it, you fruitcake! That's going in one of MY pranks!" Sunburn batted at Camo's tail playfully. The life dragon pulled his tail out of reach of him.

"And who says it's not going in one of my pranks?" Camo asked, sticking out his tongue.

"How can thinking…? Bah, whatever. We, the Skylanders, reign as champions, haha!" Rider exclaimed, holding his spear straight up.

Thumpback clapped, his anchor swinging behind his back. "We sure do! We beat that walking beach real good! He and his lil' minion!"

"Oh, why did you have to bring that up?!" Ninjini snapped at him from the corner of the dinghy. Hex hadn't even noticed her. She had made herself smaller, and was next to Cynder and Gill Grunt. "I lost it… I was so angry… I killed him… he didn't deserve that!"

Hex recoiled upon realizing that Ninjini's clothes were still stained in blood, even though she had removed most of it from her skin. Cynder leaned towards Ninjini and nudged her. "Oh, come on. He was probably lying."

Ninjini glared at her. "Was not. He pretended to throw Fright's skull because he knew that Rider would lose it and we'd be able to distract Geo while Spyro and the others got the Water Fury ready. And then the distraction team would have certainly been killed had it not been for Whirlwind and yourself, Cynder…" She trailed off and shook her head. "Ugh, this is such a mess…"

"Who cares?" Spyro piped up, beaming. "We just beat Geo! Does it really matter? We avenged Scarlett, for crying out loud, doesn't that mean anything?"

Ninjini tilted her head in thought. "I guess so…"

"Forget 'guess'!" Zap called from his corner of the dinghy. He was sitting on the right of Spyro and the left of Chill, a wild look of excitement in his red eyes. "It means a lot! Bash may not like what we did, but hey, Geo was taking out Skylanders. That's an insult to our honor! We can't have that!" He cried indignantly.

Ninjini smiled, possibly for the first time since Scarlett's death, and nodded. "You're right. There will be no stains on our coat of arms!"

"I have no idea what that is, but yeah," Hex chimed in. "Wow, today started off… horribly, to say the least. But like the Skylanders we are, we came through it."

Rider had sat down and was twiddling his thumbs. He looked almost troubled. Hex would have gladly gone over and asked whY, but with so many other Skylanders staring almost straight at her, she couldn't do so. She had a reputation to keep! Besides, Camo and Sunburn had just teased her.

Sonic Boom tilted her head. "So, what are we going to tell Bash? I mean, we got Geo good… I'm actually thinking we killed him…"

"If we did, it's not a huge loss," Spyro said. "That snake would have taken us all, one by one."

"It wasn't him who was taking us out!" Ninjini burst, looking annoyed again. "I've already told you, it was _Kaz_!"

"And I'm telling you that's malarkey," Spyro growled at her.

"Well, after we found Scarlett, Kaz was hurt…" Slam Bam reluctantly spoke, looking as though Wham-Shell was edging him on. "He had a cut going from his shoulder to his foot."

"Training incident," Hex murmured. "I saw it. Flashwing and Kaz were doing a practice match and one of her shards scratched him badly." Hex didn't understand why Ninjini was so hell-bent on blaming Kaz for everything that went wrong. She sighed and guessed the magic giant really _had _lost her mind after Scarlett's death.

Whirlwind interrupted them all. "Um, why are we talking about this depressing stuff? We just took out Geo, hello! I think we should celebrate with a nice, big cake when we get back to the Citadel."

"Would seem nice, Whirlwind… wait, it was Whirlwind who just spoke, right?" Flameslinger muttered from beside Wham-Shell and Thumpback. He looked utterly lost. "Too many different people, too close together…"

"Yes, Flameslinger, it was Whirlwind," Camo rolled his eyes. "Why is he so determined to keep that dumb cloth over his eyes?"

"'Cause I don't want people starin' at my eyes and I'm a great archer without my eyes," Flameslinger proudly poked out his chest. "Don't need my eyes!"

"Heh, don't say that so loud," Cynder smirked. "Stealth Elf might take advantage of it next time you tell her she should lay off the pies."

"If it wasn't for the fact that Scarlett had been… you-know-what, I would have laughed my head off at that," Zap laughed. "Flameslinger, you've got about as much tact with Stealth Elf as Flynn with Cali sometimes!"

"I do not, I am better!" He defended himself, his face flushing red.

"_Everyt'ing has fire wit'in t'em, yours burns less brightly t'an a fire element's, or any ot'er element, and it only burns t'e brightest when needed, kind of like it's sneaky, like you,_" Chill mocked him. "Flameslinger, you're a total sap!" She giggled.

"Oh, yeah? 'Least I don't lock lips dead in front of everyone!" He brought up the point by making smooching sounds. "I might've still had my blindfold on, but heck, I could feel the flames from that smooch!"

"T'at wasn't cool," Chill frowned, her own face flushing red as she sat down, crossing her arms.

"Enough, guys," Spyro looked ready to burst with laughter, but stifled it, rolling his eyes. "Camo, why are we going at the speed of a slug?"

"'Cause the dinghy was damaged in the crash," he answered. "It's going a loooot slower."

"No kidding. Riley's faster than this!" Zap exclaimed.

"Was that supposed to mean anything?" Cynder asked him, looking confused.

"What? Riley's slow, so yeah, it makes sense to me," he murmured.

"Oh, Ninjini, Cynder, I thought you two didn't like each other?" Rider piped up, looking at the dragoness and magic giant with confused eyes. "Strange… last time I saw you two near each other, Ninjini looked like she'd swallowed sulfuric acid."

"Yeah, what am I doing near you?" Cynder scornfully looked at Ninjini and then moved over to Spyro, squeezing past Gill Grunt and Thumpback. She sat down next to him.

"Heh, what're you doing next to me? Thought I was a jerk?" Spyro asked her, looking at the ground rather than her.

She groaned. "What is it you all want me to say? I forgive them? Fine, I forgive Spyro and Ninjini. Happy?" She glumly looked back at Spyro who smirked at her. She groaned again and looked back at him, laughing. "Yes, Spyro, I mean it."

"Fright, you really shouldn't say those sort of things about people," Rider suddenly spoke, appearing to be scolding Fright. The skeletal ostrich looked straight down and shook its head at Rider's dimwitted response. "What? It's true," Rider frowned.

"Rider, what was that back there?" Flameslinger asked the dark elf, looking highly interested, his large ears swiveled towards him. "You were on fire!"

"Uh… what?" Rider nervously fiddled with a bit of his hair that was sticking out from under his helment. Hex narrowed her eyes. He was lying. He knew exactly what Flameslinger was talking about.

"Uh, you know, you were on fire, went all crazy-eyed, kept yelling at Hex to leave, swore you could take out Geo on your own, yadda, yadda, yadda," Flameslinger tapped his foot impatiently. "There's no way you forgot all that, now!"

"I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about," Rider turned away from him pointedly, looking off in the opposite direction. Fright blinked at Rider and nipped at his boot. The dark elf glared back at him, but did not respond.

"He might have forgotten because he was passed out," Spyro reasoned. "Anyway… Camo, are we almost there?"

"Yeah, we should be pulling up any second now. Gah! Tree Rex, move your big foot!" Camo growled, pushing Tree Rex's foot, but with no avail.

The tree mutant growled, "Sorry, but Ninjini's spell is wearing off. Me and Bouncer will be full size any second now."

"Ninjini, please re-administer that spell so I don't become a pancake!" Camo shouted to the magic giant.

She nodded. "Right. _Vade Minor_," she said, her fingertips glowing a bit of a pinkish color. Tree Rex and Bouncer lit up the same shade of pink as they shrunk slightly. They were no taller than Sonic Boom or Hex now.

"We're here!" Camo said cheerfully, steering the dinghy a hard right. Hex held on to the side of the dinghy lightly as the plant dragon landed it roughly on the white pedestal.

Sonic Boom righted her headgear, which had slipped over her beak. "Camo, watch what you're doing!"

"Hey, you try driving this thing and tell me how you like it," he retorted. "Alright, now everyone out before I blow you all up with melons!"

"No need to tell me twice," Hex muttered, jostling with the others to get out before them. She ended up behind Chill and in front of Fright Rider.

Spyro looked like he could hardly walk. He barely made it a few feet before he collapsed, Gill Grunt and Cynder flanking him on either side. They pushed him up, back on his feet, and, practically walking for him, dropping him next to the Core of Light. He laid his head on his paws and was asleep almost immediately.

Hex floated a few feet and came to a stop. Rider jumped off Fright and stood next to her. Slam Bam, Wham-Shell, and Thumpback headed for the top of the staircase, talking excitedly with one another about Geo's defeat. Ninjini, Tree Rex, and Bouncer headed away from the group to the other giants gathered far away from the Core of Light. Ninjini looked as though she felt guilty about what she had done to Boulder (and still had some of his blood on her clothes), but otherwise, Hex guessed that she would be happy with what had happened that day.

Camo and Sunburn ran over to the Tree of Life, startling Stealth Elf. The elf jumped and vanished. Camo and Sunburn roared in laughter, but stopped when Stealth Elf reappeared right in their faces. "Do you mind? I was trying to stay calm, you—wait, you guys were on the assault team! What happened?"

Camo called Flameslinger over, and they all began to explain to her what happened.

Trigger Happy came bounding over to Spyro, Gill Grunt, and Cynder, who were all gathered around Spyro. "So, what happened? You beat him, right?"

"'Course we beat him!" Cynder exclaimed. "That big sandcastle's nothing but a speck now. Man, I don't even think that…"

"What do you mean?" Bash came walking up to them, looking around at the members of the assault team that hadn't yet wandered off to explain Geo's defeat. Hex and Rider exchanged a look of pity and then looked back at Bash. The rock dragon's voice turned dark. "What happened out there?"

"Bash, we had no choice," Sonic Boom walked up to him and dipped her head. "The Water Fury reduced him to practically nothing. We have no idea whether he will be able to regenerate or not, but it was likely for the best that we did what we did. He would have only taken more of our lives."

Bash clenched his jaw as he spoke next. "Boulder?"

"Boulder?" Sonic Boom echoed. "Who's Boulder?"

"He's a rock dragon, just like I am. Has blue eyes as bright as Cynder's. He saved my life from Geo the first time we fought him. Where is he?" He growled, slightly baring his teeth.

The griffin backed away from him. "D-dead. Ninjini… she refused to listen to him. She thought he was lying, and… well…"

"I thought that wasn't the way of the Skylanders, Spyro?" Bash spat, smacking the purple dragon awake. Spyro blinked and looked at him. Bash gritted his teeth and repeated his question.

Spyro blinked and sighed. "Geo, we had to. I wasn't going to continue to let him kill us off one by one. What if he went after you next?"

"Spyro, he was being brainwashed! It was still Geo underneath! But now, because we were too brash to think through what that Water Fury would do! Now he's dead! You're all stupid!" Bash snarled.

"You want to go back and figure out whether he's still alive or not?!" Spyro leapt to his feet, stumbling. He used his wings to regain his balance. "I'm NOT going to let my friends, my teammates be injured or killed because one has a friend who made a bad choice in friends! We had no idea the Water Fury would kill him! We simply thought it'd injure him to the point where he'd be forced to retreat, just like Ace!" Spyro spat. He broke into a fit of coughing.

Cynder flared her wings, the tears she had in them quite prominent. "You are dismissed, Bash," she hissed.

Bash shook his head. "Damn you all." He turned and stomped away. Prism Break tried to talk to him, but Bash shot something profane at him and Prism Break recoiled, allowing him to walk away.

Gill Grunt's grip tightened on his harpoon gun. "Does he not get why we had to do that?"

"Just give him time. I'm sure he'll get over it," Sonic Boom murmured.

"Mum!" Mayflower, one of Sonic Boom's kids, came racing over to her. She was followed by Lionheart, Storm, and Godspeed. Storm and Lionheart began jostling with one another over who was going to get to her first, even though Mayflower and Godspeed had already beaten them to it.

"Lionheart, you dope, get off my tail!" Storm clicked his beak close to his smaller brother's ear. The slightly bluer-colored griffin ducked and then cuffed his larger brother's ear with his paw.

"Shut up, Storm, move it!"

"All four of 'em! Take 'em! Oi, I never want kids!" Jet-Vac shouted from a few feet away. "Sonic Boom, those things are hoodlums!"

Sonic Boom rolled her eyes. "I had four babies, not five, Jet-Vac!" She called out to him.

He waved a hand at her. "Well, you can keep 'em!" He sighed in relief and made his way over to Lightning Rod and Warnado, who were arguing about something. Hex didn't feel the need to know what, so she tuned them out.

Sonic Boom gathered her babies and left for the edge of the Citadel. Storm and Lionheart continued to bicker the entire way. Hex almost found it amusing. Children were so funny. They often used childish and dumb-sounding profanity, and made angry comments to one another that wouldn't make any sense to an adult.

"Bloody git, move it over!" Storm shoved Lionheart out of the way with his shoulder. The navy-blue griffin huffed and stood back up.

"Dummy!" Lionheart leapt on top of Storm and the two began to wrestle in the dirt. Mayflower and Godspeed, who were both more blue in color rather than black, like their mother and Storm, exchanged what Hex swore was an exasperated look.

Sonic Boom groaned. "Can you two _please _try to act dignified?"

"Yeah, right," Mayflower rolled her eyes. "I've never seen Storm act dignified since the day he was hatched."

"At least I don't act like it's the end of the world when Mum leaves," Storm held down Lionheart with his front paws and stuck out his tongue at his sister.

"I d-do not!" Mayflower defended herself hotly.

"Wow," Rider clicked his tongue beside Hex. "I think I'd be able to live with one kid, but four? Sonic Boom's crazy."

Hex smirked. "And who was it you had in mind having this child with?"

"What?!" Rider jumped back, obviously startled. "N-nobody! I was only sayin—"

"And I was only joking. You're jumpier than a spring rabbit stuck in a snowdrift," Hex floated over towards Cali's hut. The female Mabu was sitting on her porch staring at the events of the Citadel.

"So, what happened? He was beaten, right?" She asked.

"Yeah, he was," Hex responded. "And Rider tried to go Super Saiyan on us and take out Geo by himself."

"Since when did you like Dragon Ball Z?" Cali shook the thought from her head. "Never mind. Your Portal Masters are twelve, I forget that… Anyway, how'd you all beat him?"

"In my own defense, I have no idea what she's talking about," Rider crossed his arms and sat down on Fright's back. The skeletal ostrich scuffed his foot on the ground and made an irritated squawking sound. Rider shot him a warning look. "Don't you even start…"

"Water Fury," Hex answered Cali's question, ignoring Fright Rider's odd behavior.

Cali perked up her ears. "I thought the closest to a Water Fury was an Ice Fury, and I thought only Spyro could use it?"

"What did you think we were all practicing last night, parlor tricks?" Hex snorted. "No, we were practicing the Water Fury last night. Spyro already knew a bit about it, but knew it took more than one person to use it."

Cali shook her head. "It's about eight thirty. Thirty minutes until the Portal Masters take you guys off the Portal. I guess you guys should sleep or something, today sounds like it was stressful," Cali commented, going back inside her house.

Hex realized it had grown a bit darker in the sky and the stars were now visible. She muttered, "_Nulla Tabernus,_" and she stopped floating. The bottom part of her gown trailed the ground as she walked to the edge of the island. She sat down near the edge and stared at the sky.

Rider came and flopped down next to her. "Crazy day, huh?" He smiled. "We came, we saw, we kicked its ass!" He laughed, repeating the line from the movie 'Ghost Busters' Sheila and Ben had watched.

Hex gave him a 'really?' look, and he waved his hand at her. "Oh, come on, Hex. Why must you be such a downer? I mean, you weren't hurt or nothing, were you?"

"I don't know, you seemed pretty ready to hurt me if I didn't leave you alone earlier," she said coldly. The excitement of defeating Geo was beginning to wear off, and her anger at Rider was beginning to replace it. "Then you turned into a living fireball."

"I have no idea what you're t—" Hex cut him off with an icy shout.

"Yes, you do!" She glared at him. "You keep telling me something's wrong, but refuse to tell me what. Now tell me, or I WILL hit you with an orb right in the face."

"Talk about pushy," he muttered. But he looked away and straightened his helmet. "Hex, I remember what I did today. I know what I did. But I can't tell you how or why."

"Why not?" She asked, surprised.

"Because… I can't…" He shook his head. His voice began to crack. "I promised Eon I wouldn't say anything… I can't tell you… I won't tell you…" He buried his face in his hands. Hex could tell the guilt of whatever he was hiding was eating him alive, but if there was one thing she had learned about Rider from the moment she met him, was that he. Was. Stubborn. She groaned irritably and then sighed, trying to calm herself down. Sure, she had a reputation to keep… But nobody was looking in their direction… It was getting close to nine… Rider looked miserable… She had to know what was wrong! If it meant ruining her image, then so be it.

"Rider, look at me," she told him. She didn't say it coldly, nor with much enthusiasm. He slowly turned his head and looked up at her.

"Yeah?"

She took one last glance behind them to make sure nobody was looking at them. The closest by were Sonic Boom and her young, and she was too busy trying to get Lionheart and Storm to calm down to pay any attention to them. Taking a deep breath, she pressed her lips to Rider's.

Shocked, he didn't do much of anything. But a second or two later, he pushed her away, looking absolutely shocked. He took a stumbling step backwards. "What the…?"

"Please? Rider, for me?" She pleaded.

"Hex, I _can't, _you don't understand!" He was wailing like a confused child now. Fright perked his head up and looked at them from a few feet away. "I can't… I can't risk that kind of rejection again… the last time I told anybody, it was my own parents, and they don't even want anything to do with me now!" He shook his head and put his face in the crook of his elbow. "I can't…"

"Rider, whatever it is, I'm not going to think any different of you," she tried to comfort him. It was a bold-faced lie. Hex knew that she was somewhat judgmental… Maybe she shouldn't have done that… The thought of the kiss made her blush slightly.

"Really? Are you sure?" Rider gulped and looked at her. She hated seeing him like this. He was literally shivering in what she guessed was fear, and he looked on the verge of tears. "I really don't know… Hex… please don't make me…"

"Rider…" She shook her head. She needed to know. "Please tell me."

He sighed and sat back down next to her. "Okay then… I…"

* * *

_**CLIFFHANGAH!**_


	14. Bound to the Ground

_**Bound to the Ground**_

* * *

"How did I get stuck with taking you two out to Sapphire Lake? Why would you even _want _to go? You're Fire Skylanders!" Sonic Boom huffed.

Hot Dog stuck his tongue out at her, wagging his flaming tail madly. "Buried bones, yes, yes, yes!"

"Good Eon, I had four kids, not six!" Sonic Boom exclaimed, stomping alongside them. She and Jet-Vac had dropped Hot Dog and his brother, Molta, off on the edge of Sapphire Lake's island, or better known as Sapphire Isle, and Sonic Boom had gotten stuck with the task of taking them to the actual lake itself.

Hot Dog smirked and suddenly tagged his yellow brother, dodging the cuff that was aimed his way. He stuck his tongue out again. "Missed me, missed me, missed me!"

Molta snorted. "I'll catch you!"

Hot Dog's tail brushed a leaf and he quickly pulled it away. The path to Sapphire Lake was actually a hiking trail through Sapphire Forest, a one-and-a-half long one. And they were surrounded on either side by trees and shrubs and bushes. Sonic Boom looked fidgety, continuously flinching whenever Hot Dog or Molta would get too close to the trees or bushes. When she saw his tail brush the leaf, she ducked her head and lashed her tail.

Hot Dog tilted his head and made a confused whining sound. "Sonic Boom nervous?" He asked.

"Yes, Sonic Boom's nervous, because Sonic Boom would prefer to live to see her children's next birthday!" She growled. "So stop going so close to the trees!"

"Not hot! Not hot! See?!" Hot Dog ran toward a bush and wagged his tail right in it. The bush, instead of going up in flames, only quivered as though a breeze had been blown on it. "See, see, see?"

Sonic Boom clicked her beak and flared her wings. "Yes, I 'see, see, see'," she snorted. "Run up ahead and wait once you reach the lake. And we're not going to have much time, it's got to be at least eight by now and the sky's already getting darker!"

Hot Dog frowned as he ran ahead the griffin with his brother. It had taken them _forever _to get here since Flynn had had to fix the dinghy (afterwards, he left on his ship with Cali), and then Bash was being a jerk and wouldn't drive the dinghy, so Camo had to do it, and THAT green maniac had tried to blow everyone up with melons! _Note to self: Do a firebark on his butt when we get back! _Hot Dog thought, giggling like a little girl.

Molta turned around and suddenly pounced on him. His yellow brother leaned over top of him and practically smothered Hot Dog with his body. Hot Dog heard a loud, booming sound and heard several things smack into the ground around him. Hot Dog couldn't see what was happening due to his brother, but he could smell several different things: smoke, exhaust, and a salty tang he couldn't quite figure out…

Molta toppled off him and Hot Dog bounced to his feet. Looking around, he saw bits and pieces of shrapnel everywhere. Molta had a deep cut in his shoulder and back leg, but looked uninjured otherwise. He panted and looked over at Hot Dog. "Is Hot Dog okay?"

"Fine, fine, fine! But what about Molta?" Hot Dog scanned his brother up and down. Other than the two gashes, he didn't see anything else wrong. Molta limped back over to him, and pointed with his paw at the end of the path.

Sonic Boom caught up with them. She panted from running, and then looked them over furiously, not even coming to a stop when she looked over their undersides. Molta growled and shoved her away. "Can Molta help you?" He asked her.

She laughed in slight embarrassment. "Sorry… maternal instincts… you were injured, so, yeah… Hot Dog, are you okay?"

"Yup!" Hot Dog barked, running around her in circles. "Molta, what happened?"

"Big ship! Fell from the sky! Smoking!" Molta panted, scratching his ear with his back paw. He stopped and hopped to his feet. "Come on! Let's go see!" He raced forward, and Hot Dog playfully followed, his paws practically flying over the ground.

Molta yelped suddenly and fell to the ground. Hot Dog bounced over to his brother and leaned against him, helping him back up. Molta panted and whined. "Leg hurts!" He whined.

Sonic Boom scornfully rolled her eyes. "It's slashed straight across with blood pouring out of it. What did you expect it to do, feel like a million dollars?" She walked closer. "Lay down," she told him.

Molta flopped back onto the ground and rolled over on his back. "Scratch Molta's belly!" He exclaimed, laughing.

Hot Dog whined. "Hey, why's Molta get belly scratch?"

"He's not, you imbec—I mean, I'm just fixing up his leg," she muttered, using her wings to clean off the blood. "Now lick it clean, Molta."

Molta screwed his face up in disgust and Hot Dog didn't blame him. "Ew! Blood? Lick?"

"No, bite it. Yes, lick it!" Sonic Boom shook her head in exasperation and walked away, saying, "Patience is a virtue, Sonic Boom, patience is a virtue…"

Hot Dog looked back down at his brother. Molta was rolling around in the grass, scuffing up dirt and turning his back green with the stuff. Hot Dog thought it would be fun, but he wanted to know what big ship Molta had been talking about! "Molta, I go see big ship now, okay? Okay, okay, okay!"

Hot Dog didn't wait for a response and whirled around, running out into the bright sunlight. He was glad to finally be out of the stuffy forest pathway. Sapphire Lake glimmered in front of him. But not too far away from the sparkling, silver-blue lake was a huge, metal ship. It was crumpled, and had smoke coming out the end of it. Small flaming embers could be seen in the smoke as well.

"Help…!" The call was feeble.

"Someone need Hot Dog to find? Hot Dog find good!" Hot Dog raced into the smoking mass. It reminded him a bit of Flynn's big ship. That loony pilot had flown out on it earlier today with him, Cali, Fangs, and Brock on board. Hot Dog sniffed the air. He couldn't tell whether it was the same ship or not, because smoke was filling his nose. He began to feel a bit whoozy. "Arf… Hot Dog needs stop breathing in black cloud!" He shook his head, clearing it, and scanned the wreckage.

The front half of the ship had been completely crushed and was smashed into the undercarriage of the deck. The deck had multiple holes in it and was destroyed underneath the top layer. The rear end of the ship was in the best condition, except for the propellers and paddles the ship ran on were smoking like chimneys.

"Help!" The weak cry came again, but this time, Hot Dog could hear it sounded more masculine than feminine. He jumped onto the deck paws-first and had to use his claws to keep hold. The deck was slanted to the right, making it nearly impossible to stand on without using his claws.

He sniffed the air. Through the smoke, he could vaguely smell something familiar… "Call again!" He shouted.

"HELP!" The call sounded hoarse, but it was stronger this time.

Hot Dog swore it came from the front end of the ship. He crawled that way and nosed his way through some rubble. He whined when he couldn't pick up the scent of any person he knew. "Keep calling!" He barked.

"Help…" The plea was even more feeble and weak than the first one. Hot Dog could barely see, thanks to the darkening sky. He had no way of telling how close it was to nine, and he had to find these hurt people qui—

_WHOOSH! BANG! POP!_

Hot Dog found himself staring at Ben and Sheila's bedroom. The blank, white walls sat unmoving, and Ben and Sheila were removing them one by one from around the Portal of Powers they had set up (they had had to use four to effectively send them all into Skylands at once using the glitch they had figured out).

Hot Dog felt urgency pull at his paws. "Someone needs help!" He barked. "Person hurt on big ship!"

"What are you talking about?" Eruptor's call came from right next to him.

"Big ship crashed on Sapphire Isle! Person call Hot Dog! Person hurt in wrecked ship!" Hot Dog exclaimed.

"Calm dow—gah, go away, Zeus!" Tree Rex's soothing statement was cut off as Zeus, Ben and Sheila's dog, began to sniff and look at the Skylanders.

"Oh great. We're dog food," Pop Fizz grumbled. "Well, today has been fun…"

"Zeus, leave them be!" Ben called. His brown hair bobbed as he shooed the big, sharp-nosed mutt away. Ben was wearing a white shirt with three blue words on it. His shorts were oceanic-blue. He turned to the Skylanders and sighed. "Where on Earth could Scarlet Ninjini and Polar Whirlwind have gone…"

"Up your ass," Ninjini shot coldly. "Maybe if you two idiots would pay attention to your TV—which runs twenty four hours every day—you'd know where!"

"Ninjini!" Tree Rex's startled holler came from ahead of Hot Dog. "Language, please!"

"Yeah, there could be children present," Camo laughed.

"Ninjini, you don't have to be such a jerk about it. It's not like it's their fault Scarlett and Polarity are missing," Whirlwind's voice echoed out behind Hot Dog's row. Ben and Sheila had recently started ordering their Skylanders in the elemental order of Earth, Air, Magic, Tech, Water, Fire, Undead, and Life.

"They should pay closer attention!" Ninjini spat.

"They have their own lives!" Whirlwind snarled back.

"All of you shut up!" Hex's figure was in front of Hot Dog, towards the right. Next to her was Fright Rider on the left and on her right was Cynder. "Or next time we play Orball I'll curse it and if it hits you it'll give you the worst case of amnesia you've ever had in your life!"

"What's nasal?" Jade's voice could only be faintly heard behind Hot Dog. She was one of the farthest ones back.

"AMNESIA!" Hex shouted back.

"Hot Dog was trying to say something!" Molta snarled from beside his brother. "Said person was hurt on ship!"

Spyro's figure was also quite a ways behind Hot Dog. "I know! But we can't do anything until tomorrow."

"Wonder what Ben and Sheila are gonna do tonight?" Dino-Rang piped up from the back of the crowd.

Sheila walked into the room. Her black hair swung at shoulder-length and her emerald green eyes sparkled as she looked at all the Skylanders. Her gaze turned scathing as she glared at Ben. "Ben! It was too early to be taking them off!"

"What?" He blinked at her. "It was nine-o'-seven, it was too LATE to be taking them off!"

"Your watch is broken, remember?" Sheila groaned. She looked at her own watch. "But it's nine-o'-clock now. No reason to put them all back on now."

"Why's Mom make us take 'em off at nine, anyway?" Ben pouted, flopping down onto the brown and black futon. "I mean… I'm sure they have important business in Skylands, right?"

"Of course we have important business! Why do they talk like we don't even exist?" Jet-Vac exclaimed haughtily. "Skylands is in danger from eight killer dragons that are bent on destroying us one by one! 'Course we have important business!"

"Hurt person on ship!" Hot Dog exclaimed again, feeling a bit irritated now.

"You do realize that they're right there, right?" Sheila rolled her eyes and slid off the futon. She stood in front of the Skylanders and sighed. "If only you guys could talk to _us_…"

"We can!" Hot Dog barked. "But… why can't Sheila hear Hot Dog?"

"Because we don't speak the same language. Right, Spyro?" Rider asked. His voice sounded casual, not paranoid like it normally did. In fact, he sounded as though his accent had a bit of a drawl to it.

"Right, Rider. Anyway… hey, I think they're gonna watch a movie!" Hot Dog swore if Spyro could move his face he would have smiled.

"Ooh, movie? Yes, yes, yes! Movie, movie, movie!" Hot Dog and Molta's voices coincided with one another perfectly.

"What movie?" Rider asked.

"You and I are going to have a long talk when we get back in Skylands," Hex growled to what Hot Dog guessed was Rider.

"Why? What'd I do?" He asked. Fright gave a squawk.

"Do you really want me to say it here?" Hex snapped.

"Why? Don't have the—" Fright cut him off with a loud, raucous screech. "Shut up, Fright!" Rider yelled.

"Boy, he's being weird... Hex, you sure Rider hasn't hit his head while riding Fright? Hey! My new experimental potion is missing!" Pop Fizz exclaimed The gremlin was also behind Hot Dog.

"You probably just dropped it somewhere," Wrecking Ball said. "But what was it an experiment for?"

"Not sure. Was supposed to make me or any gremlin be able to turn into monsters like I can. But I can't find it… and it was an experiment, I wouldn't just leave some potion lying around!" Pop Fizz defended himself.

"Dunno 'bout that," Sunburn yawned. "I found one of your poison potions around Sonic Boom's cave once."

Sonic Boom chimed in next. "Yes! What if Storm, Lionheart, Godspeed, or Mayflower stepped in it or drank it?"

"What was the big deal? Just a lil' poison. Have Whirls shoot a couple rainbows, and boom, no issue," Pop Fizz murmured.

"Do I look like a standby medic?" Whirlwind interjected in annoyance.

"Yes," Rider's antagonistic reply caught her attention.

"Ooh, well then, wise guy, you're going to need a medic the second we get back into Skylands!" Whirlwind snapped.

"…fighting sequence initiated…" Drobot groaned.

"If I could—"

"Now you see, this is why I hate Ben and Sheila keeping us all together. They're all—" Rider coughed—"idiots!"

"You're an idiot!" Hex shot at him.

"You're stupid," Rider responded simply.

"I'm Hot Dog!" Hot Dog panted happily.

"Unfortunately…" Ignitor muttered. He was further down the line of Fire Skylanders, right beside Flameslinger and Sunburn.

"Another long night…. Just what we need…" Flameslinger grumbled. "'Zis is why I prefer Skylands!"

"And we don't?" Flashwing asked, sounding genuinely perplexed.

"You know what I meant!" Flameslinger responded.

"Ain't we lovely?" Dino-Rang sarcastically asked.

"'Bout as lovely as rattlesnakes that can't strike," Sprocket clicked her tongue after saying that.

"Gah, Zeus!" Shroomboom's irritated cry came from in front of Hot Dog. Shroomboom was in between Stealth Elf and Stump Smash. Stealth Elf would have face-palmed if she could.

"Honestly, Shroomboom, it's a dog! You've got a fire one behind you!" She grumbled.

"Yeah, but he's not, like, one-thousand times my size!" Shroomboom shrieked. Zeus shoved his nose up into the Skylanders, knocking many of them down, including Hot Dog.

"UGH! REAL dog slobber!" Molta's dismal cry came from beside him.

"No, Zeus!" Sheila jumped off the bed and yanked the mutt away. Zeus began barking angrily. Sheila began to realign the Skylanders the dog had knocked down, wiping several of them off with her shirt.

"Weird big mutt!" Hot Dog would have loved to stick his tongue out at the mongrel, but being frozen, he couldn't.

"Ben, get control of your stupid dog!" Sheila shot at the brown-haired boy. He slipped off the futon as well.

"Sorry," he grimaced, grabbing Zeus by the collar. "Come on, Zeusy, I'll put you outside."

"Good f*cking riddance!" Rider shouted.

"Rider!" It was now Hex's turn to be startled.

"What? That mutt got slobber all over my jousting clothes! You know how hard it'll be to wash this stuff out? Not to mention how it'll look on my reco—" Hex cut him off with a dark shout.

"What on Skylands Elder Elementals are you talking about? Rider, you don't joust in THAT costume, that's just your frozen figure, and you hardly ever GO to jousting competitions anymore!" Hex gave a sound that sounded like a cross between a growl and a groan.

"What are you talk—" Rider made a spluttering, hiccup-like sound. "—about?"

"Does Auric sell alcohol? Because I think Rider's wasted," Camo laughed maniacally from beside Zook and Ghost Roaster.

"What's that mean?" Ghost Roaster asked.

"Nothing…" Camo trailed off.

"No, he's being stupid," Hex growled.

"I swear to Eon's grave, if you do not all be quiet right now, I'll feed you all Camo's watermelons!" Spyro spat, obviously annoyed.

"I'm a grown man, why do I gotta be quiet?" Rider grumbled.

"'Cause I said so!" Spyro shot back at him.

"Who cares what you—" he spluttered again—"say?"

"Hex, what is wrong with him?" Spyro sounded truly astonished.

"I really have no idea," Hex said in her lazy drawl. She really must have not cared…

"Shouldn't we be trying to go to sleep?" Sonic Boom called into the air, sounding truly exasperated.

"Smartest idea I've heard out of anybody all day," Gill Grunt muttered.

Hot Dog couldn't close his eyes, but it wasn't hard to fall asleep. The whole staring at the wall thing was boring enough to put anyone to sleep!

The next day, Sheila and Ben were up early. Unfortunately, Zeus was too. The mutt began barking and clawing at the two siblings' door long before they woke up.

"It is five in the morning!" Chill exclaimed. "And t'at mutt woke me up!"

"We were all woken up too, y'know," Eruptor told her.

"Well, I need my beauty sleep!" She responded, huffing.

"You sure do," Camo snickered.

"Hardy har har," Chill said, obviously not amused.

"Can that mutt be a little louder? I'd like to get put in Skylands so I don't have to listen to it!" Hex grumbled.

"Man… my head hurts…" Rider mumbled.

"I'd make it hurt worse if I could!" Hex snarled at him.

"What's wrong…?" Rider asked her with concern in his voice.

"Last night you were being the biggest jerk of the entire place!" She exclaimed.

"…I don't remember anything like that…" Rider answered.

"The Hangover: Part One," Sunburn roared in laughter.

"I regret that day Sheila and Ben left us in the living room for the night," Camo sighed, trying to sound depressing. "Because we never got to see any of Real Housewives."

"Real Housewives?" Hot Dog whimpered, not understanding.

"Really interesting, from what Sheila and Ben's mom said," Camo responded cheerfully.

"Ooh. Now Hot Dog wants to see!" Hot Dog yipped happily.

"Wow…" Ninjini breathed. "Is it just me, or am I really surrounded by stupid people?"

"Nope, just you," Voodood replied.

"Rhetorical question…" Ninjini grumbled.

"Oh my God, Ben, get your retarded dog and make him shut up!" Sheila's tired voice came from the futon. She shook awake her brother, who practically fell off the bed (they had turned it into a bed last night and slept in the game room).

"I'll get him, I'll get him. Start putting the Skylanders on the Portal," he mumbled groggily and he stumbled to the door of the room. He opened it up only a little bit and squeezed himself through the crack of the door, shutting it behind him.

Sheila yawned and slid off her bed. "If Mom finds us up this early, we're dead meat…" She clicked on the television and 'Xbox 360' as she and Ben called it, and the four Portals lit up.

Sheila had gotten inhumanly quick about putting the Skylanders on the Portal. Hot Dog liked hearing the other Skylanders' catchphrases as they entered Skylands—they were inspiring! To name a few…

"A stroll on the dark side… Fear the Dark!" Hex.

"We fight as one! Fear the Spear!" Fright Rider.

"Haha, back home! All Fired Up!" Spyro.

"I'll just roll in! Wreck-N-Roll!" Wrecking Ball.

"Back to the scorecard, boom! It's Feedin' Time!" Terrafin.

"Flawless beauty! Blinded by the Light!" Flashwing.

"Chilly as always. Stay Cool!" Chill.

"Fast with swag! Ride the Lightning!" Zap. _And I have no idea what swag is… _Hot Dog thought to himself.

"Target acquired—Portal in sight! Blink and Destroy!" Drobot.

"More money for me! No Gold, No Glory!" Trigger Happy.

"Four times the roar! Full Scream Ahead!" Sonic Boom.

"Altogether—For the Wind!" Warnado.

"Is it me, or is it hot in here? Rost-N-Toast!" Sunburn.

Hot Dog would have been bouncing in excitement if he could as was lifted and dropped onto one of the magical, flickering portals. "Hot on the trail! See Spot Burn!" He cried. He materialized in the grasses of the Ruins. He wagged his tail as the others dropped in.

Molta appeared right next to him. "Hi, bro! Big ship with hurt person—where?"

"Sapphire Lake!" Hot Dog exclaimed. He looked around for Spyro. The purple dragon was bugging Ghost Roaster about something. The ghoul nodded and headed off in the other direction. Hot Dog bounced over to him, leaving Molta, and once in earshot, he could hear Cynder teasing him.

"'Bout time you got that appetite back," she laughed.

"Don't patronize me," he pouted slightly. "Oh, hi, Hot Dog!"

"The ship! Big ship! Person hurt on big ship!" He repeated, running in circles around the magic dragon.

Spyro blinked. "Okay, Hyper Harry," he stuck his paw out and Hot Dog nearly tripped over it, but managed to stop himself. Hot Dog stopped and stared at Spyro.

"Well, is Spyro going to help?" Hot Dog cocked his head to the side and whimpered.

"Of course! Well, it'd have to be a team of Air Skylanders, because Flynn isn't back yet and he came back and got the dinghy earlier… Whirlwind, Sonic Boom, Jet-Vac!" He called.

Whirlwind came sprinting over from where she and Drobot had begun chatting. Her cheeks were a faint red color as she spoke. "Yes, Spyro?"

Sonic Boom nudged Mayflower and Godspeed away from her, walking casually over. "Yes?"

Jet-Vac dashed over, looking excited. He put his green visor down. "What is it? Another bloody dragon?"

"No, nothing like that. Hot Dog and Molta saw a ship go down at Sapphire Isle and you guys have to get their ASAP. Since the Jet Winds are kicking up and Flynn isn't back, we don't have any other way… sorry guys," Spyro sighed.

"It's fine, we'll handle it. Although, somebody needs to watch the four hoodlums while I'm gone," Jet-Vac pointed his thumb at Sonic Boom's young. "I can't be babysitter if I'm not here."

"Right… Hex, Fright Rider!" Spyro called the two Undead elements.

"Why them…?" Sonic Boom whispered.

"Why, you got something against us?" Hex's voice was icy as she got closer.

"No, no, nothing like that! But Rider's been acting like a rattlesnake with a thorn stuck in its tail all day," Sonic Boom spitefully stared at him as he drew nearer. Suddenly, his pocket made a buzzing sound and he ran off towards the Tree of Life.

Hot Dog decided to follow him. Ooh, secrets could be so much fun!

Rider yanked out something from his pocket and flicked it open.

"Where are you at, son?" A voice came from the device! Ooh, cool!

"What the hell do you want?" Rider's voice was hard as a rock and about as comforting as nails on a chalkboard. Hot Dog flinched at his cold tone.

"Is that any way to talk to your father, you disgrace?"

"Is that any way to talk to your own son? Some great father you are. Now, why in the hell do you keep calling me just to give me this lecture? Especially over the last few days!" Rider kicked a stone, sending it flying in Hot Dog's direction. He dodged it and listened to Rider and the strange voice. He had no idea why Rider was talking so hatefully, but he guessed he might be mad.

"Well, if you hadn't gone and kept competing in those jousting tournaments—"

"I like jousting, DAD! I don't need permission from a forty year old, gray-haired git to know whether I can joust or not!" Rider snapped.

"You disgrace your family! We're supposed to protect the living and fight against the undead at all costs!"

"You don't think I know that?" Rider's voice suddenly began to crack and he lost the sharp edge to it.

"Damn stupid fool. Wanna know why I really called you?"

"I don't give… don't give a f*ck why you'd call me…" Rider was grinding his teeth and Hot Dog could see tears welling in his eyes. He was gasping between certain words as well.

"Don't you know what today is, stupid? Your birthday. Mom is bawlin' over it too."

"I know…" Rider responded, his voice dying off.

"Evil as hell, you are, Rider. I'm ashamed to have to say that you're my son."

"I DON'T NEED YOU CALLING ME TELLING ME THIS! NOW SHUT THE F*CK UP, GO TO HELL, AND NEVER TALK TO ME EVER AGAIN! SHE CAN CRY HER F*CKING ARSE OFF, I DON'T GIVE A DAMN!" Rider threw the device to the ground and stomped on it, shattering it into several pieces. He pulled off the canteen from his belt and began to guzzle down whatever was inside. He had tears pouring down his face. "I know good and well what day it is… bloody git…" He slumped against a tree and buried his face in his knees, his arms wrapped around his face. He drank even more of whatever was in the canteen.

Fright came wandering over. The skeletal ostrich glared at Hot Dog and then charged at him. Hot Dog had no idea what Rider was so mad about, and with his short attention span, was beginning to forget about the whole incident anyway. Fright snorted proudly once Hot Dog was a good ten or so feet away and then walked with an arrogant gait back over to Rider.

Hot Dog raced back over to Spyro. Hex was looking around confusedly, and Camo and Sunburn were watching Sonic Boom's four youngsters now.

"Hot Dog, did you see where Rider went?" Hex asked him.

Hot Dog tilted his head. _Hm… I just saw him… what was he doing… oh, yeah, that's right! _"Behind Tree of Life! Talked with some mean guy. Kept cursing and yelling. Drinking a lot of water, too! Lots and lots and lots!"

Hex gaped at him. "You really have no brains at all, do you, Hot Dog?"

"Nope!" He barked and ran around Hex playfully. "Will you throw Hot Dog orb? Orb, yes, yes, yes!"

Hex brushed him away. "Fine! Here," she conjured an orb with her hands and shot it outward. Hot Dog went chasing after it. Wow, it was fast! _He runs… he leaps… YES! _Hot Dog grabbed the orb in his jaws and spun around to look for Hex, but she was already gone.

"Aw…" He whimpered. "Now she can't throw Hot Dog's orb!" The orb vanished from his jaws suddenly. Irritated, he looked around. "What's big idea? Hot Dog's orb just go away!" He frowned, looking around. Ooh! There was this fiery thing wagging behind his butt! He began to chase his own tail, only coming within a few inches of it before he was tackled to the ground by another Skylander.

"Hiya, Hot Dog!" Molta greeted him with a fury of licks. "So, how 'bout Hot Dog and Molta do Comet Slams, yes, yes, yes?!"

"Of course!" Hot Dog exclaimed, leaning down with his front end, his tail sticking high in the air still.

"Spyro!"

Hot Dog and Molta's whines jinxed one another. Something else had to be going down at the main part of the Citadel. Somebody yelling 'Spyro' was never good…

Hot Dog and Molta gave each other a challenging look. "Hot Dog and Molta race, yes, yes, yes?"

"Yes, yes, yes!" Molta jumped with joy.

"Okay!" Hot Dog bolted forward, Molta only a few inches behind him. Ooh, it was that flaming thing again behind him! He whipped around and leapt and clawed at his own tail, eventually tripping up and falling flat on his face.

He puffed and stood up, brushing himself off. Whirlwind, Sonic Boom, and Jet-Vac were landing, looking frightened. "We can't get to Sapphire Isle!" Whirlwind shrieked.

"If you ever send me there again, I'll feed your wings to Camo's venus fly traps!" Sonic Boom snarled.

"That thing was HUGE!" Jet-Vac mumbled in shock.

"What are you guys talking about?" Spyro was sitting in front of the Core of Light, and had to wipe off his face before he spoke, as it was covered in some sort of liquid from whatever he had been drinking.

"A dragon!" Whirlwind gasped. "Fire one! HUGE flames on its back!"

"We just took out one, don't tell me there's another one already?!" Rider came running out. He had tear stains on his face, but he also had a sour smell coming off him… Like a really strong cough medicine smell…

Hot Dog shook his head, and sneezed. Whatever it was, it _stunk. _

"There can't be another one yet, can there?" Hex floated up beside Rider. Hot Dog didn't even notice when she slipped her arm around his waist.

"We don't know that for sure, but… looks like we'll have to find out. And Flynn _still _hasn't come back?" Spyro tipped his head to the side. "Wow… heh, probably gone to Starlit Peak to watch the sunset and stars with Cali. If he somehow managed to get her there without her breaking his face in, that is." He laughed.

"Another dragon?" Hot Dog whined and exchanged a confused look with Molta.

"Molta doesn't know," Molta said, shaking his head.

* * *

**Well, then, this chapter was meant to sort of explain the Portal Masters, Ben and Sheila, a bit. They become more important later on.**

**Also, I know self-advertising sucks, but if you like this you may be interested in the planned story _The Most Frightening of Rides, _which depicts Fright Rider, from the day he and Fright met to the day he was cursed and sent to Skylands. And it DOES make sense with this story, as it's a sort of spin-off from it. I haven't uploaded it yet, but it will go up either today or tomorrow.**

**Although if you're looking there to see Fright Rider's big secret you'll be sadly disappointed until MUCH later. *evil trollface***


	15. The Bits and Pieces

_**The Bits and Pieces**_

* * *

Eruptor and the rest of the Skylanders were once again awoken by Zeus barking. But at least this time it was later in the morning. Ninjini had said it was about seven-o'-clock.

"Of all the dogs in the world, why did you choose that one, Ben?" Sheila growled as she began placing the Skylanders one by one on the Portal.

"Because he was fluffy, why else?" Ben asked her.

"Figures…" She muttered. Eruptor could hear the various slang and catchphrases of the Skylanders as they entered Skylands. He himself said, "Blazin' fury! Born to Burn!"

The Citadel wasn't that much different. As usual, Spyro and Cynder were talking with one another by the Core of Light. Riley was laying down patiently close by, but nobody was talking with her. Slam Bam, Wham-Shell, and Ignitor were talking and pointing at things by Hugo's hut. Eruptor guessed they may have been playing I-Spy.

Molta and Hot Dog were chasing each other, before pouncing on one another and beginning to play fight. Sunburn and Camo were talking in low voices behind a bush near the tree of life, giggling every once in a while. _I bet you those two are schemin' about something…_ Eruptor thought.

Behind the Tree of Life, Eruptor could see a flicker of red hair and purple cloth, and guessed Ninjini was visiting Scarlett. She had done the same the last two days…

Voodood was practicing his Zipline Axe ability not too far away, Wrecking Ball watching him. Pop Fizz was sitting next to the grub worm. He popped open a vial of soda and guzzled it down. His body became distorted in shape and he became larger and a darker shade of blue. His huge, rabbit-like ears flopped down slightly at the tips. His claws became noticeably longer.

Eruptor looked away from them and saw Rider and Hex sitting together watching Chop Chop and Ghost Roaster practice next to Cali's hut in some trees. They must have just started, as Chop Chop was only just brandishing his sword. Ghost Roaster jumped and shape-shifted into a large, greenish skull, and went charging at Chop Chop. The skeletal warrior put his shield in front of him and it deflected the ghoul for a few moments, but Ghost Roaster eventually broke through.

Rider shook his head and muttered something. Hex elbowed him gently and said something to him with a reassuring smile. He nodded, but said nothing else.

Eruptor looked away and in the other direction. Shroomboom set down some of his mushrooms that would have made up a mushroom wall, and Zook took aim at them with his mortars. "Don't mind if I practice a bit, do ya, Shroomboom?"

"Fine… But don't be super mean about it, okay?" Shroomboom pouted. He then perked up. "Ooh, is Camo letting mushrooms grow in his garden? I never thought I'd see the day!"

"There's what?!" Camo came streaking over to his garden, making several purple venus fly traps snarl and snap at him. He growled something and the flowers didn't move anymore. Camo began sniffing around the base of his garden and once he got to the end of it, he nipped at Shroomboom, who went running back over to Zook. He found what he was looking for-three yellow mushrooms sprouting out from beneath a lilac-and ripped them out the ground. "Bah! Weeds!"

"That means your lilac is dying," Shroomboom stuck his tongue out at Camo.

"You're gonna be if you don't stay out my garden!" Camo snapped. "Mushrooms, ugh!"

"That's kinda hateful, Camo," Sunburn murmured as he came walking over.

"Whatever," he grumbled, turning back to his lilac. Eruptor realized that it was wilting…

Further away from them, Stealth Elf and Flameslinger looked to be practicing their fighting skills as well. Stealth Elf vanished from view, but Flameslinger smirked. "Silly Steal'z Elf! I know where you are, because I can see you wi'zout my eyes!" He jumped left just as Stealth Elf reappeared on his right.

"Yeah? Then stop talking and start dodging," she grinned, disappearing again.

"Fine, I can't detect you in Steal'z mode," Flameslinger admitted. "Happy?"

She popped up behind him and put her arm around his neck. "Yes," she giggled.

"Only 'vou would laugh wi'z your arm around my neck, 'olding a knife," he responded to her laughing.

Eruptor rolled his eyes and looked away from them. Now, he was staring at the brambles. Kaz was talking with Jade. The gem-studded dragoness nodded at whatever he had just said and twirled her tail, the green gem at the end sparkling. She and Kaz wandered away into the brambles. When Thor tried to go near them, Kaz rounded on him and bared his teeth.

"No, you're evil, now go on somewhere!" He spat. He returned to Jade's side and smiled at her, intertwining his tail with hers.

Eruptor blinked. He didn't talk much, but he had learned that Kaz was fearful and often skittish to the point of physical shaking. That outburst did not sound like it came from the Kaz Eruptor knew. _Meh. Guess he just doesn't like him 'cause he's evil, _Eruptor shrugged it off.

Flashwing, who had watched her sister go, got to her feet and began saying things to Thor. "Hi there, Thor. Hey, would you like a practice battle?"

Thor's ears perked up and he beamed. "Really?"

"Yeah-just like this!" Flashwing swung her tail around at Thor and it slashed across his chest and front legs. His legs buckled and he fell to the ground. Flashwing then hissed in his face, "You are not one of us and never will be, so I'd get used to this treatment if I were you."

"I'm telling you, I don't know about anything else other than Deu Sol's taken over Dragon's Peak! The only other things I was told was that there were seven others that would attack the Skylanders-I was never told any names!" Thor exclaimed. "Why won't you guys believe me?"

"Because you helped kill one of us, that's why!" Flashwing spat at him. She turned, smiling, and pranced away, her wings glinting in the sunlight.

Eruptor snorted. _Good, Flashwing. Thor has been needing a good beating._ It was true. Thor had been getting brave lately and had left the purple bubble that Ninjini had conjured the first day he had been here, and the alarm, as planned, had gone off, and Ninjini and Spyro ganged up on him, and nearly killed him out of reflex. He hadn't left the brambles since.

Eruptor continued to look around. He wasn't much of one to socialize. He preferred to watch what everyone else was doing. He burped, but didn't release volcanic material. Looking back up, he saw Sonic Boom's cave. It was a small cave next to the brambles she had created with strangely-shaped rocks. She and Jet-Vac were sitting side by side, talking to one another, glancing at Sonic Boom's four kids every now and again to make sure they were okay.

"Will you get off my foot?" Lionheart clicked his beak near Mayflower's ear. The blackish female griffin jumped.

"Sorry," she murmured.

"Why would you be sorry? I just wanted you to get off my foot," Lionheart tilted his head.

Mayflower chuckled nervously and shook out her feathers. "Um… I dunno."

Storm jumped on top of Mayflower and she squeaked, throwing him off her back by bucking like a horse. "What is your problem?!" She shrieked.

"OW!" Storm had landed on his head. He turned around and rubbed his beak. "What's your problem?! I was only playing, geez, you need to calm down!"

"Why don't you calm down?" Godspeed piped up, sticking his tongue out at his eldest brother.

"Don't even get me started, Speedy," Storm mumbled.

"Kids, go play separately if you can't be bothered to be nice to one another!" Sonic Boom scolded. "Go, shoo!"

"But there's no other kids here!" Mayflower complained.

"True," Jet-Vac tilted his head to the side, as though in thought.

Eruptor became bored with the conversation and looked away. Warnado, Dino-Rang, and Boomer were eying a sheep that was munching on the grass a few feet away from them, close to the edge of the island. "Hey, Boomer, why don't ya blow it up?"

Boomer had already thrown the lit dynamite. The dynamite exploded, and the sheep was catapulted to the other side of the Citadel. "I couldn't hear ya 'cause it got BLOWED UP!"

"It's blown up, but sure, nice job, mate!" Dino-Rang exclaimed, he and Warnado high-fiving one another. "C'mon, let's see if we can find some more!"

Sprocket was hammering two machine parts together when the sheep went flying over her head. She sighed and wiped sweat off her forehead and stood up, putting her hands on her hips. "Man, I don't have that piece… I hope Drobot can get me a spare one from his workshop…" She walked away from whatever she had been building (it looked like an oversized backwards gun to Eruptor…) and over to Drobot, who was doing acrobatic tricks in the air with Whirlwind sitting below, watching next to the edge of the island.

"Drobot!" Sprocket called out to him.

Drobot switched off his Afterburners and changed them to what looked like his Hover Mode, but he was completely mobile. He came in close to Sprocket and Whirlwind. "State your query," Drobot told her as he landed, removing his helmet.

"Spare me the dramatics, will ya? I need a nut and bolt," Sprocket told him.

"Dramatics? I did not make any dramatic statements…. But yes, I will go retrieve a, as you so sensibly put it, 'nut and bolt'," he grumbled, putting back on his headgear and taking off into the air.

"That dragon is seriously messed up in the head or somthin'," Sprocket put her hands on her hips again. "I've never seen anyone but him talk like that."

Whirlwind merely shot her an annoyed look.

Eruptor looked past them and stifled laughter upon seeing Chill doing something immensely stupid next to the top of the staircase. She looked as though she was trying to lick her elbow.

Her face flushed a reddish color and she stomped her foot, letting her arm fall to her side. "Zap, why do you want me to do t'is again?"

"Because Ben said it was impossible!" Zap exclaimed. "And he's right…" Zap too was trying. Chill rolled her eyes and flopped onto the ground. Her arm appeared to be better.

"I feel so stupid," she mumbled.

Zap looked up at her. "Oh, come on, it's fun!"

"About as fun as dancing on a highway," Chill muttered.

"Why…?" Zap asked.

"Exactly," she answered.

"Oh."

Eruptor looked on and saw Gill Grunt and Trigger Happy doing something. Trigger Happy had both his pistols drawn and pointed at Gill Grunt. "Reach for the sky! 'Cause I got ya!" He exclaimed.

Gill Grunt laughed as he dropped his harpoon and then said, "Alright, Trig. New game?"

"Sure!" Trigger Happy jumped up and down.

Eruptor continued staring at everybody for a good long time. He wasn't much of a talker... or one to hang out with. He'd much rather prefer to just sit and watch. Observing was fun. Plus, watching Stealth Elf and Flameslinger tease one another was hilarious, along with Hot Dog and Molta's dumb antics. But it was quite a while later when Spyro called everyone over to the Core of Light. Eruptor wandered over towards the Core. Flameslinger joined him at his side, Stealth Elf in tow.

"What is it Spyro wants now?" Flameslinger murmured. "And where in Skylands is Flynn? 'Zat loony pilot's been missing for nearly a day and a half now!"

"What if that ship Hot Dog said went down was Flynn's?" Stealth Elf whispered worriedly.

"But Hot Dog said he heard somebody calling for help near 'ze front of 'ze ship. Wouldn't 'zey be able to call on a radio because it would be in 'ze captain's helm?" Flameslinger crossed his arms, shaking his head.

"Wouldn't Hot Dog have recognized the ship if it was Flynn's?" Eruptor asked quietly.

"Maybe, but remember, 'zis is Hot Dog we're talking about…" Flameslinger pointed vaguely in the direction of Hot Dog and Molta, who had either lost interest in Spyro's call, or hadn't heard it, because they were still wrestling with one another.

"Skylanders! Yesterday, Sonic Boom, Whirlwind, and Jet-Vac returned with information that there may be another dragon approaching us!" Spyro called, standing on the side of the Core of Light so he would look taller than anyone else. But Eruptor noticed that Spyro sounded excited rather than angry or depressed about the news…. Interesting… "This new dragon's going to find out what happened to Geo the hard way! We'll fight him off, no matter the danger he presents! Isn't that right, guys?" Spyro asked, beaming.

"Of course it's true!" Bouncer exclaimed. "My fingerguns say 'dat dragon's headin' home with a nice hole or two in him!"

"My sensors indicate victory!" Drobot shouted.

"He's in 'ze line of fire now! MINE!" Flameslinger shouted out. "He wants to know what real fire, tastes like, hmm? Well, I guess we'll just give it to him!"

"Ha, it could be nice to have someone to hone my skills on!" Stealth Elf said dangerously.

"But there's something else that's more important! We have to get to the ship that went down at Sapphire Lake and help whoev-"

Spyro suddenly vanished! Eruptor, Flameslinger, and Stealth Elf blinked and looked at one another. "Euuuh… what just hapened?" Flameslinger asked.

"He disappeared!" Eruptor hollered in shock.

"Thank you, Captain Obvious, and the sky is blue," Stealth Elf reprimanded him.

Cynder stepped up where Spyro had been. "Listen," she began. "We're going to be taking a group of Skylanders out there. If you can fly, suit up and get ready."

"Do you think you're Spyro or something?" Flashwing snorted from below Cynder. "Hate to say, but you don't sound nor look like Spyro."

"I'm not Spyro, you know that, Flashiwng," Cynder growled.

"'Kay then, that means we don't have to listen," Jade chimed in from close by, smiling deviously at her sister.

Kaz flattened himself to the ground from next to the two sisters, looking frightened.

"Euuh… Spyro just vanished, so why are we sitting here talking about why Cynder is telling us what to do?" Flameslinger asked, confused.

"Because this was the plan he wanted to explain to you all, now listen!" Cynder spat. "If you can fly, go get suited up and get ready! We're leaving now!"

Eruptor was amazed at the stupidity of the Skylanders. Most refused to oblige Cynder, but the ones that did confused him. Among the ones that stayed at Cynder's side, actually listening to her speak, were Ninjini, Whirlwind, Dino-Rang, Warnado, Sonic Boom, Sunburn, Thumpback, Slam Bam, Stealth Elf, Flameslinger, Ignitor, Drobot, Hex, Fright Rider, Ghost Roaster, Eye-Brawl, Chop Chop, Tree Rex, Hot Head, Bouncer, himself, and Sprocket.

Cynder flicked her tail and spat her words like acid. "Fine! Go ahead, I'm sure Spyro would love to hear your support!" She jumped down from the side of the Core and glared out at the Skylanders that had stayed to listen to her. "Well, what are you all waiting for? I know you're just sitting there out of pity. Go! Go, I know you don't want to hear a word from me!" She went around to the other side of the Core.

"Well, 'zat could have gone better!" Flameslinger sighed. "So… what now? And wher-" Flameslinger vanished too!

Eruptor saw various other Skylanders disappear at once around him. He too vanished without a trace, but it was soon apparent where they were going. He stared unblinkingly at the white wall of the game room, and groaned loudly.

"There is no way it's nine-o'-clock yet!" Chill, outraged, exclaimed.

"No dip, Sherlock!" Cynder snarled.

"Hey! What gives?" Ghost Roaster moaned.

Ben and Sheila huffed and sat down on the futon, glaring at the TV screen with hatred in their eyes. "Well, this is stupid! Mom said that we have to play with them if we're going to leave the TV on all day!"

"Well, I don't own Vepco, so yes, you do, young lady!" Eruptor heard the brown-haired woman Ben and Sheila call "Mom" shouted.

"But Mom! They're not just toys!" Ben whined.

"Ben, they were labelled as toys and sold in the store for ten dollars a piece. They are toys," the green-eyed, brown-haired woman came into the room with her hands on her hips. She had a black leather jacket and jeans on. A red shirt was on beneath her jacket. "We bought you them so you could play with them, not leave them on the Portal with the Xbox and the TV running night and day."

"You don't let them run it at night," Stealth Elf retorted from further ahead Eruptor.

"They're not! See?" Sheila grabbed Fright Rider and put him on one of the Portal of Powers. The Portal lit up a ghostly pale purple color and he appeared on screen. He shouted, "Fear the Spear!" and Fright squawked before he appeared on… Flynn's ship?

Eruptor stared blankly at the screen. "Why are they on Flynn's ship? HOW are they on Flynn's ship?"

"I have no idea…." Spyro breathed.

"See?" Sheila pointed at the screen, where Fright stood with Rider on his back, both glancing in either direction. Sheila blinked and whispered, "Heh… Fright Rider, do something…"

"What is he doing?" Hex's aggravated question also came from ahead Eruptor.

"Fine, then, um, someone else!" Sheila quickly put Fright Rider back in his spot and picked up Voodood. He exclaimed "Voodood strong!" before he was placed on the Portal, where it lit up bright purple and he exclaimed, "Axe First, Questions Later!"

He too appeared on Flynn's ship and just stood there, looking around vaguely. Sheila and Ben just sort of gaped at the screen, while their mother sighed and rolled her eyes. "Please just play with them…" She walked out of the room.

"Fright Rider, what the heck was that?" Hex asked in outrage.

"What was what? Nobody else was at the Citadel, so I just sat there wondering where the heck everyone else was!" He defended himself.

"Uh… dude, you were on Flynn's ship," Sunburn said.

"No, I was at the Citadel…?" Rider sounded confused.

Ben picked Voodood off the Portal and placed him back with the Magic Skylanders. "Voodood, what happened out there?" Spyro asked.

"Dunno. Voodood was alone at Citadel, nobody else there," Voodood responded, sounding just as confused as Rider had moments earlier.

"So… what are we going to do with them, exactly?" Ben asked Sheila as he slumped onto the futon, looking highly annoyed. "I know that's not what happens when you put them on! I don't understand!"

"Hm…" Sheila got up and picked up Ignitor. Before he was put on the Portal, he said, "Soul of a Flame!", and once on the Portal, he said, "Slash and Burn!"

This time, Ignitor showed up on the Citadel, looking around and moving a few steps back and forth. "Uh… where is everybody?" He wondered aloud.

"See?!" Ben exclaimed, pointing at the TV.

"I'm not blind, Ben," Sheila retorted. "But that is weird…"

"I've got an idea!" Ben jumped up from the bed. "Why don't we record the Skylanders talking to each other at the Citadel? Then mom will have to believe us!"

"It's a good idea," Sheila nodded. "Let's do it! Dad's got a camera we can use in the kitchen somewhere. I'll go get that, you put someone else on the Portal!" Sheila dashed out of the room.

"Hm… how 'bout you, Eruptor?" Ben picked up the lava monster and set him on the Portal. With a whoosh and a snap, he appeared next to Ignitor.

Ignitor flinched, obviously startled, upon seeing him. He grumbled something to himself and said, "What were Ben and Sheila doing?"

"Their mother thinks we're just toys," Eruptor said contemptuously. He suddenly spat up a bit of lava. Ignitor moved away from him.

"You, sir, are gross," he mumbled.

"You're not so hot yourself," Eruptor stifled a chuckle at his own joke.

"Hilarious," Ignitor muttered.

Suddenly, he and Ignitor were jerked out of Skylands. Breathing heavily, Eruptor calmed down once he was put back next to Flameslinger and Sunburn. Sunburn laughed. "Eruptor and Ignitor, I almost think you two were made for each other!"

"He wants to be murdered in his sleep, doesn't he?" Ignitor asked nobody in particular.

"I think he does, Ignitor," Eruptor would have nodded in agreement if he weren't frozen.

Sheila squealed and did a jump. "Yes! See? Right here!" She pointed a finger to the screen of the silver camera in her hand. "No way it can change this! Right?"

"Dunno, Skylands is a pretty weird pla-Zeus!" The dog was sniffing around the Portals. He knocked two into the floor, and looked at them in confusion. Ben huffed and grabbed him by the collar, dragging him away. "Mom! Can you get Zeus?"

"He's your dog, although you never play with him," their mother's scathing reply came back.

"I 'zink 'zey 'ave bigger problems 'zen 'ze dog!" Flameslinger shouted in alarm.

Eruptor snorted. "What are you talkin' about?"

"Look at 'ze Portals!" Flameslinger still sounded alarmed.

Eruptor would have rolled his eyes if he could. "I can't, I'm not pointed that way, genius!"

"But he's right!" Sprocket exclaimed. "The Portals-their lightin' up!"

Ben let go of Zeus, who sat down and blinked at him. Ben and Sheila then began staring at the Portals, both of their eyes dilating. Eruptor felt annoyance tug at him.

"What on Skylands are they starin' at?" He asked.

"B-Ben… you and I are seeing the same thing, right?" Sheila asked. She took a step back, and Ben nodded vigorously.

"I mean, you are seeing the Portals lighting up like that and that wind… right?" Ben asked her, gulping.

"Yeah… ah!" Sheila grabbed onto Ben's shoulder as she was pulled forward by something Eruptor could not see.

"Yikes! The Portals are pulling them in!" Shroomboom cried shrilly.

"Sheila!" Ben grabbed onto his sister's arm and began pulling backwards with all his might, but she did not budge. In fact, it looked like she was pulled in farther.

"What on Earth is going on in-SHEILA!" Ben and Sheila's mother came into the room and grabbed onto her daughter as well. Eruptor couldn't make any facial expressions, but if he could, he most certainly would have been gaping. Sheila was suddenly jerked backwards and out of view.

"She was just sucked into the Portals!" Camo sputtered, sounding astonished. Ben and their mother was sucked forward as well. Eruptor noticed the Life and Undead Skylanders ahead of him beginning to shake and rattle… "Now WE'RE getting sucked into the Portals!" Camo bleated.

"What is going on?!" Spyro's frustrated cry came from the back of the crowd.

"We're-AH!" The Life and Undead Skylanders were suddenly whisked out of view. Eruptor watched them fly over the edge of the desk. With Tree Rex moved, he could see what everyone had been talking about-a huge, swirling cloud was sucking them in! And it was hovering right over the fallen Portals!

"Hold onto something!" Sunburn exclaimed.

"How? We can't move, genius!" Chill spat sarcastically.

"Wee! This is fun!" Hot Dog panted just as he and the rest of the Fire Skylanders began to rattle and shake. Eruptor felt himself being drawn forward, like he was getting pulled by an invisible cable… Then suddenly, he was whisked through what appeared to be the Portal, with the flashing lights and mix of popping and whooshing sounds…

He appeared on the grass of the Citadel. The others began appearing around him. But the ones that had arrived before him-mostly Life, Undead, and Water Skylanders-were all circled around something, murmuring excitedly to one another. Eruptor wandered in closer just as Spyro went charging through the crowd. Eruptor was astonished by what he saw.

Ben and Sheila, as well as their mother, were standing in the middle of the Citadel, looking terrified.

"Wh-where are we?" The mother asked.

Sheila's expression went from scared to disbelief in two seconds. "This is Skylands! Ben, we're in Skylands!"

"We're wh-how?" Ben gaped stupidly at the Skylanders gathered around them.

"Finally! We can talk to them!" Flashwing said in annoyance.

Spyro shot her a scathing look and walked up to Ben, Sheila, and their mother. He dipped his head and extended his paw in a dragon's way of bowing, before looking back up at them. "Hi, Ben, Sheila. I'm Spyro, and we're the Skylanders! Hey guys, why don't we give the Portal Masters a bit of an introduction?" Spyro smirked.

"This isn't real, this isn't real, this isn't real…" Their mother repeated to herself in a ghostly whisper, sounding utterly astonished. Her green eyes were wide in dismay at what she was witnessing.

"Of course it's real!" Ben gasped at her. He then jumped forward. "Cynder, Eruptor, Fright Rider, Hex, Zap, come on, show her!"

Cynder grinned and flew into the air, spiraling. She came to a stop and looked back at the Portal Masters' mother. Smiling darkly, her scales turned to black and her body turned streamlined and flat as she dove at the ground. Completely turned to shadow, she slithered over the ground at an alarming rate, leaving several yellow ghosts in her wake.

Eruptor smirked himself and blasted himself apart, leaving him as nothing but a pile of molten lava and lava rocks. He put himself back together and burped, spitting out several lava balls.

Rider leaned forward on Fright and whispered into the skeletal ostrich's ear. "Come on, Fright, we can't let them see us acting like fools… I am not a fool! Gah… CHARGE AHEAD!" He pointed his spear straight forward as Fright charged straight forward. Rider suddenly yanked on the ostrich's reigns, pulling him in the wrong direction. They smacked into a tree. Fright threw off Rider and squawked angrily, while Rider huffed and staggered to his feet. "Oh, shut up, you bloody bird!"

Eruptor just stared at him. Rider had been acting awfully strange recently. He'd been practically falling over his own feet yesterday.

Hex wafted over, the purple mist that hung around the bottom of her gown billowing out behind her. She waved her arms in the air and said something foreign, and a skull appeared over the top of her head. It shot a single skull at Rider's belt, annihilating it and the canteen on it. A golden-yellow liquid erupted from the canteen. The dark elf, a dismal look on his face, fell to the ground as his pants fell to his knees, exposing his underwear. Hex had obviously tried to stifle laughter, but had failed, as she was laughing like a crazed hyena (not that the others weren't).

Rider blushed a deep crimson and yanked his pants back up. He then turned to Hex, still blushing. "What is your problem?"

"What? It was funny," she laughed even harder.

Zap then spat up sea slime and went racing around Ben, Sheila, and their mother, grinning and shooting electricity in random directions (one bolt sailing straight over Eruptor's head).

Sheila scoffed. "That's nothing! Sunburn, Spyro, Thumpback, Tree Rex, Ninjini, Whirlwind, and everyone else, why don't you guys show off?"

Spyro coughed to interrupt them. "'Fraid we don't have that kind of time. Ben, Sheila, you two need to know something…" He dipped his head and Eruptor knew what was going to come. Spyro was going to explain everything about the new dragons that posed a threat, and everything that had been happening over the past three and a half weeks.

Zap, Cynder, Hex, and Fright Rider joined back within the ranks of the Skylanders standing around the Portal Masters and their mother (who still looked mortified). Rider and Hex exchanged a look that just screamed "love-hate", and Cynder went to Spyro's side, leaning up against him reassuringly. Zap joined Chill and she sat down so she was level with him.

Spyro then looked back up and spoke with a voice that sounded as though it was made from solid rock. "Ninjini, bring me Thor."

Ninjini smiled sadistically and floated over to the brambles. Thor was huddled against the brambles, and Eruptor wondered how it was the dragon was doing so without jumping due to the thorns poking him. _Guess his fear of Ninjini's stronger than the pain, _he thought. Ninjini picked him up by grabbing the feathers around his neck and practically threw him at Spyro. The feathered dragon gasped for air and flattened himself to the ground.

Kaz gave a throaty growl and snarl, which caused several heads to turn in his direction. The indigo colored dragon was standing next to Jade and Stealth Elf, and looked embarrassed and slightly fearful with so many eyes on him. He ducked his head low.

Eruptor shrugged it off and looked back at Spyro and Thor. Ninjini had stopped floating and had sat down on the ground, dull purple smoke floating around her waist. Eruptor swore if she had popcorn, she'd be eating it as though she were watching an interesting movie.

"First things first," Spyro began, clearing his throat. "Ben, Sheila, Ben and Sheila's mother-"

"It's Angie," the brown-haired woman whispered.

"-Right, Angie. Well, for the past three and a half weeks, we've been attacked by several dragons. The first ones were Ace and Thor. Ace was large, a good thirty or so feet long with a good twenty or twenty-five foot wingspan. He had feathers all over his body, and he was evil. He killed Polarity, or as you know her, Polar Whirlwind. That is why she is missing," Spyro's explanation was met with gasps of shock and horror from the two young Portal Masters.

"That's enough!" Angie's eyes narrowed and she glared at the purple dragon.

"I'm sorry, Miss Angie, but they need to know," Spyro told her. Eruptor could feel the air thick and heavy with the depression of the speech, as well as the fear and mourn flowing through everyone there. Spyro cleared his throat and continued. "Thor was his minion. That is this dragon here. He pinned Polarity down when she was murdered. We keep him here because we cannot allow him to return to their leader, of whom all the dragons we have faced have stated a name. That name is Deu Sol. All I can interpret is that he is their leader. I also know that 'Deu Sol' means 'Sun God' in ancient languages…. Therefore, I can also interpret that whoever we're dealing with is strong."

"That's an understatement!" Ninjini sputtered angrily.

"That's horrible…" Sheila murmured breathily.

"The next two dragons were Geo and Boulder. Geo was once a friend of Bash's. He was a sand dragon with a calm demeanor but ferocious temper. He could do many things, due to his being made out of sand. He was killed by us, unlike Ace, who we merely injured to the point where he knew he was beaten. We had to kill Geo because… the only way to fight him off was with water, and lots of it, otherwise, he regenerated, and had sworn to kill as many of the Skylanders as he could," Spyro continued on, ignoring the tears of horror filling the Portal Masters' eyes. "His minion, Boulder, was quite a different story though… He helped us in every little way he could-"

"Until she got to him!" Bash came bursting through the crowd, glaring at Ninjini. He bared his teeth. "She killed him! She took out all her anger at Kaz and Spyro on him by MURDERING a good guy! Hell, why don't we start killing each other, guys? Wouldn't it be the same?"

Ninjini stood back up, glaring at Bash. "He was evil! He killed children in his lifetime, I'll have you know!"

"Thought you weren't a mind reader?" Bash spat.

"I can read DNA! And magical DNA never vanishes!" She answered icily.

"ENOUGH! THIS IS NOT THE TIME FOR FIGHTING!" Spyro snarled, his scales turning to black. His wings flashed white, then turned to a plated silver color. His claws glinted white, then were silver. His eyes did not change. Eruptor cringed. It was NEVER good when Spyro turned to his dark alter ego… "In case you haven't noticed, these twelve year old children are trying to process deaths and the brutalities we've had to face! Now, if you want to continue the most immature squabble I've seen ever, THEN DO IT SOME OTHER TIME!" He roared.

Bash and Ninjini, as well as many other Skylanders, flinched and cringed at Spyro's suddenly scathing and angry tone. Eruptor himself found it hard to stifle a burp of surprise. The dark dragon grumbled something to himself and he turned back to Ben and Sheila. Angie had her hands on her children's shoulder, but she too looked terrified of Spyro now.

"Like Bash said, Boulder too is dead. Now we've been attacked by someone new. We do not yet know his or her name, but this dragon is a fire dragon, and Flynn, Cali, Auric, and Hugo are missing. They went out on the ship and didn't return. Hot Dog, Molta, and Sonic Boom saw a ship go down at Sapphire Isle, but we were pulled out of Skylands before we could save them. Then, Fire Dragon refused to let us get anywhere near Sapphire Isle," Spyro looked up at Ben, Sheila, and Angie, his red eyes blazing. "If there was ever a good time for the Portals to glitch and send you all into the game, now would be it… Ben, Sheila, we need your help. Please."

Ben and Sheila exchanged a glance. Their horrified expressions turned to that of a smirk, and they nodded, looking back at Spyro. "Will do, Spyro!" Ben said.

Spyro sighed with relief. "That's great! But… now here's another problem… How are we going to get you guys out of Skylands?"

"Well, when we got in here, we did notice these," Sheila pointed to a pin on her shirt. It was blue with white, thin stripes. Ben and Angie both had the strange pin as well. "Maybe if we remove it?"

"Try," Spyro said. "The Portals that Zeus knocked down are broken. They can send you into Skylands any time."

"We know, the problem will be staying out of Skylands," Sheila snorted scornfully.

"Why is everybody so down?" Hot Dog suddenly called out from the middle of the crowd. Eruptor wanted to give him the 'really?' look of his life, but the little red dog and his yellow brother came darting out of the crowd. "We've won against the first two, right? So why are we all acting like it's the end of the world or something?"

"...Y'know, he does have a point," Slam Bam nodded.

"'Course I do! What do you think, I'm stupid or something?" Hot Dog asked.

Slam Bam fiddled with some of his white fur. "Ummmm….."

Hot Dog and Molta leaned against one another and sang in a harmonized tone. "We're surrounded by fools…!" They snickered afterwards. It was kind of out of character, but Eruptor laughed at it anyway. Besides, the two dogs _did _have a great singing voice.

"I would congratulate you on your singing, but I think I'd rather throw orbs at you," Hex muttered.

"Hot Dog, Molta, that's enough," Spyro's scales began to turn back to purple, and his his wings and horns back to orange. The ridge going down his back and claws also returned to their orange color. He sighed. "Take off the pins, Sheila, Ben. Time to go back home." He then smiled up at them. "But this is not permanent goodbye."

"Of course not! We'll kick that dragon's butt!" Sheila did a fist-pump.

Spyro nodded. "I know you will."

Eruptor found himself smiling. Now that their Portal Masters were involved, there was no way they could lose! Right…? Of course not! Those dragons were going down! Now there wouldn't be anymore deaths, or blood, or war within the ranks of the Skylanders… Eruptor watched as Ben, Sheila, and Angie plucked the pins off their shirts, and threw them to the ground. They were whisked out of Skylands, up, up, and then away.

Bash and Ninjini's argument immediately picked right back up. Eruptor stuffed his hands in his ears. He did not want to listen to them at all. But watching them, he was astounded at the ferocity that passed between them. He had never seen two Skylanders who looked more ready to kill each other!

"Bash, I said leave me alone!" Ninjini bellowed, obviously irritated and over the argument. But Bash was egging her on.

"Oh, I'm sure you left Boulder alone just fine! After you cut off his head!" Bash snarled, smacking the ground with his tail, leaving a huge crater.

"Back the hell off!" Ninjini spun around and faced him, her swords drawn.

"Oh, so now you're gonna cut off my head?" Bash snapped.

"Ninjni! Bash!" Spyro exclaimed. "ENOUGH!"

Bash and Ninjini threw each other loathing glances before looking away. Ninjini floated away, towards Tree Rex and Swarm.

"Ninjini, what was 'zat all about?" Swarm asked her. The magic giant did not answer him, and he didn't press it.

Spyro suddenly jumped on Thor. "You! You were the one who started all of this! Look at what you've done!" Spyro's scales shifted in color once again. The obsidian-black scales glimmered in the sunlight and the silver glittered. But his eyes were flashing with bloodlust in his semi-psycopathic form.

Eruptor and the other Skylanders close to him backed away. Cynder was the only one who stayed within two feet of him. Spyro put his claws to Thor's neck. "Tell us what we need to know or I'll kill you right here!"

Thor struggled against Spyro, shooting out several puffs of stinging air and beating his wings furiously. He clawed and kicked at him, but it was no use; Spyro was stronger. Spyro hissed, annoyed with his escape attempts. "ANSWER ME!"

"I don't know!" Thor wailed, covering his face with his front paws, quaking in fear. "I don't know, I don't know, I don't know! I can't tell you anything else than that!" Eruptor was again astonished. But this time, it was because Thor was _crying_. The supposed merciless, heartless air dragon was crying. He began struggling against Spyro again, snapping with his teeth at the dragon's feet. "Please, I swear, I don't know anything! Let me go, let me go, _please_!"

Spyro curled his lip and picked up Thor, then slammed him to the ground in frustration. He reverted back to his normal form and let Thor go, but still had a look of frustration on his face.

Thor cowered on the ground, looking frozen to the spot. He shot fearful looks at the Skylanders around him. Eruptor gave a low growl. He hated Thor's guts. THAT was the same dragon that had held down Polarity as she was MURDERED! He had pinned her there, knowing EXACTLY what was going to happen to her, and watched, enjoying it, as Ace stabbed the life out of her!

Thor backed away, but it was obvious the other Skylanders wanted to give a piece of their mind as well. Stealth Elf lashed out a knife, skinning several feathers off him. Thor yelped and tried to run back towards the brambles, but accidentally knocked himself into Camo. The life dragon snarled and lashed out his claws, scratching Thor right on his face. The air dragon finally got to the brambles, and he crawled up beneath some, still shivering.

Eruptor smiled. Thor deserved far worse than what he got.

Spyro looked at the other Skylanders. "It's about nine-o'-clock by now, I'm sure, so get ready to leave, guys."

Eruptor braced himself to be yanked from Skylands. But when several minutes passed, and it did not happen, he opened his eyes and tilted his head. "Uh… Spyro… you sure it's nine?" He asked.

"Yeah…? Ninjini, what time is it?" He asked her.

She shot him a distasteful glance, but spoke. "Nine-o'-eight."

"What if Sheila and Ben's mom are going to let us stay in 'ze Citadel longer now?" Swarm piped up.

"That'd be great! I get tired of sleeping while standing on my back two feet. It's painful, you know," Sunburn joked.

"Well," Spyro smiled down on them all. "This is great news! Now… just one problem… where's everybody gonna sleep?" He laughed.

"I've got a good idea where Stealth Elf and Flameslinger are gonna sleep," Camo gave them a sly look and grin. Flameslinger immediately moved away from Stealth Elf, causing her to stumble a bit.

"I 'ave no idea what 'vou're talking about," he held up his head proudly.

Stealth Elf rolled her eyes at him, and ignored Camo.

Eruptor gave a contented sigh as he laid down near Cali and Persephone's hut. Whenever he slept before he was frozen, he'd melt himself partially, and lay in a perfect circle. Close by, Sunburn, Flameslinger (with Stealth Elf), Hot Dog, Molta, and Ignitor were sleeping. Flameslinger had his arm around Stealth Elf, and they were behind a tree. Eruptor couldn't help but grin slightly at the thought of them trying to hide how they were sleeping from everyone else other than the Fire Skylanders, although Eruptor knew if Sunburn were to wake up and see, the phoenix hybrid would never let them forget it.

He soon drifted off into sleep, where no dreams disturbed him.


	16. We're Losing, Aren't We?

_**We're Losing, Aren't We?**_

* * *

Swarm woke up from where he had nested last night. He hadn't slept in a comfortable position in over ten thousand years-it was nice to finally be able to! He had split himself into Swarm Form, and was in the shape of a beehive on the limb of one of the trees on the Citadel.

He began to wake up. He let go of the branch and reformed himself, shaking his head and stretching a bit. It felt nice to need to stretch after a good, long night of resting again… He yawned and sat down. He looked to be one of the first ones awake, but he wasn't the only one.

Hex and Chop Chop were talking to one another only about ten feet away (just past where the rest of the giants were sleeping). Swarm decided to listen in. None of the other giants were up, and he wasn't great friends with anyone else, so he might as well just listen to see what was going on.

"Well, he won't listen to me," Hex sighed frustratedly. "What should I do?"

Swarm cocked his head. Who won't listen to Hex?

Chop Chop shrugged. "I don't know. But I'd just stop him from getting it."

_Getting what?_ Swarm wondered.

"Well, he managed to find more last night. If Auric ever makes it back here, I'm going to strangle him with my bare hands," Hex spat.

Chop Chop chuckled slightly. "You managed to find a good enough way to stop him yesterday. Blast off his belt, why don't ya?"

Hex shook her head. "Chop Chop, I'm serious. He doesn't listen to a word I say, and I ask him why, and he blows me off like I'm nothing."

"Uh, hello, is Hex in there?" Chop Chop shook his head. "I don't see why you're concerning yourself over him so much. Every hero's got their skeletons in the closet. Bash was the friend of a killer dragon, Sunburn nearly got himself killed in arena challenges, Cynder was once Malefor's slave… should I continue?"

"Yeah, but none of those affect them health-wise," Hex retorted.

"Hex, I just think you should leave Rider alone. The only issues he's had with it is yesterday he was a little disoriented-" Hex cut him off.

"And the days before that he couldn't hardly walk straight and talked with so much profanity Malefor would have probably cringed had he heard it! Look, he can't keep this up," Hex said, staring at Rider.

He was leaned against Fright, who was curled in a ball next to the Tree of Life. He had refilled his canteen with something last night and sat it close by, but he had heard Hot Dog complaining of the smell. Swarm put two and two together… Or, at least tried.

_Okay, so she and Chop Chop were talking about Rider… Well, he was acting strange the other day, yelling at the top of his lungs about everything, then yesterday he couldn't see straight (he was all over the place!), he'd had a smell that smelled like old cough syrup coming off him, and when Hex blew up the canteen on his belt, it was yell-beer!? _Swarm suddenly recoiled, realizing what had indeed been wrong with Rider. That was nuts! There was no way!

He was interested now. He stared after Hex as she floated over to Rider. She stopped next to him and shook him awake gently.

Swarm snorted. And here he thought that Hex was a person who'd bite your head off if you so much as teased her.

Rider jumped awake. "Get off!" He spoke in a slurred voice, tripping over Fright, waking the ostrich up. Fright gave an annoyed squawk and moved, kicking a bit of sand onto Rider's clothes. The jousting champion grumbled something and then stood up. Camo, Sunburn, Shroomboom, and Dino-Rang squirmed in their sleep a bit, but did not wake up. "What is it… Hex?" He looked at her. His legs began to shake and he toppled back onto the ground. "Ugh… my head hurts bad…"

"I'd ask why, but I think you know good and why," Hex said coldly.

Rider glared back at her. "Why don't you just get off my c-" he coughed and leaned forward, clutching his stomach. "Ugh… I don't feel all that well…"

Hex said something foreign to Swarm's ears and stood on the ground, the purple mist around her feet vanishing. She put her arm around his neck and then began to speak. "Why do you insist on hiding things from me? You've already told me the biggest secret of your life. You can at least come clean with a few other things…"

"What's there to come clean with?" Rider didn't look up at her. He pulled his knees close to him and wrapped his arms around them, biting his lower lip. "Other than my Dad basically cursing me before I was ever corrupted, my whole homeland disowning me, or the fact that if it weren't for me Fright wouldn't have gotten dragged down with me?" Rider pointed a thumb to the skeletal ostrich. "I'm not that blind. I can tell Fright would have preferred to never have been corrupted, just as I don't like it. He didn't even want to joust BEFORE we were corrupted! I forced him... It's all my fault. Maybe I should have been a better son or something…"

Hex blinked at him. It was obvious this was not what she had been expecting as a response. She leaned against him and rubbed his back. "Oh, come on, you know that is not true."

"Whatever," he stood back up and wobbled dangerously, falling back down. He gave an exclamation of frustration and, leaning against the Tree of Life, got to his feet. He used the Tree of Life to get to a few other trees, where he wedged himself between a sapling and a full grown maple.

Swarm snapped his fingers as Rider and Hex continued to talk, but were out of earshot. He was surprised nobody else had been woken up by their racket. Everyone must have been really happy to get their old sleeping positions back, because Ninjini, Chill, Stealth Elf, Pop Fizz, and Hot Dog were usually some of the first ones up.

Ninjini suddenly began to struggle in the dirt below him, looking as though she were trapped in a dangerous nightmare. Swarm prodded her awake, alarmed. She whirled around to face him, swords drawn and panting. When she realized what she was doing she cleared her throat and made her swords vanish. "Sorry…"

"No problem. Nightmare again?" Swarm asked, concern in his voice.

She looked ready to shoot him a sharp remark, but then nodded. "Yeah…"

"Should we wake up Spyro?" Swarm asked. The purple dragon had said he wanted to take out a team to Sapphire Isle to check out the ship…

Ninjini curled her lip. "Oh, let him sleep in!" She spun around and wafted towards the Tree of Life. She went barreling right through Camo and Sunburn, the smoke around her waist she used to move around choking them awake. They jumped backwards, Sunburn landing on Flamslinger and Stealth Elf, Camo landing on Shroomboom and Fright. Fright gave another outraged squawk and moved, while Shroomboom merely got to his feet and batted him off.

Stealth Elf and Flameslinger were woken with a start, and they found themselves practically nose-to-nose with Sunburn. Stealth Elf disappeared and reappeared a few feet away, fuming. "What is wrong with you?" She glared at Sunburn.

The dragon-phoenix hybrid shoved Flamesinger away and laughed. "Haha! I knew it! You slept with Flameslinger, haha!"

"Keep talking and I'll stab you in the eye," Stealth Elf threatened, running her hand over the bladed edge of her golden knives.

Flameslinger had jumped away too, blushing lightly. He walked up to Sunburn and teased him, "If you wanted anything Sunburn, you could have just asked. I'm sure Steal'z Elf wouldn't 'ave minded." He grinned mischievously at her and she put her hands on her hips.

"I'll stab you in the eye too," She said pointedly.

Swarm tore his gaze away from them and looked back to Ninjini. Or, at least, what he could see of her. She had done her best to completely immerse her in the foliage around the Tree of Life, shooting Rider and Hex surprised glances every now and then.

She said something while looking down, probably at Scarlett's grave, and then came wafting back over to Swarm. She sighed. "So… what is it we're going to do today?" She asked, awkwardly twirling her ponytail. Ninjini had always hung out with her sister, or Tree Rex, but lately, she had seemed quite socially awkward around others, and every time Tree Rex tried to comfort her about something, or even talk to her, she snapped at him.

Swarm suppressed the urge to groan. Females could be such drama queens sometimes… "Wait for Spyro to wake up, I guess."

"Will you get your foot out my mouth?" Swarm laughed as he recognized Storm's voice from Sonic Boom's den. The four baby griffins must have been waking up. Soon enough, Storm and Lionheart came tumbling out of the den, locked in a playfight.

Ninjini just shook her head at them. "The amount of energy those young ones have is amazing… Kids. They're like their own breed." She watched as Mayflower and Godspeed came out of the den, albeit more timidly. She cracked a tiny smile and Swarm felt like dancing for joy. It took a MIRACLE nowadays to get Ninjini to so much as smirk! She continued on. "But… I do wonder how it would feel to have children… Weird, I guess, knowing you're responsible for the life of another being."

Swarm blinked at her. Ever since Scarlett's death, Ninjini had been making odd comments like that... Well, odd for her. These comments actually sounded ominous and meaningful, not rude and hateful.

He felt slightly contemptuous about how Ninjini would comment on being responsible for another life. Ninjini had been saying horrible things about Spyro lately, but did she know that he was responsible for far more lives than any of them? That one dragon was responsible for fifty or so other lives! Swarm was starting to get tired of Ninjini continuously saying bad things about that wonderful purple dragon behind his back.

She sighed and nodded. "I know you are feeling contempt, Swarm. So tell me why."

Swarm blinked. He hated it when she did that! Wasn't he entitled to his own feelings? He sighed and spoke anyway. "Well… 'Vou've been pretty nasty to Spyro since, 'vou know… but 'e's responsible for over fifty lives, Ninjini. Why do 'vou 'zink 'e acts so generally and never singles any of us out unless 'e needs to?" Swarm asked her.

Ninjini opened her mouth to retort, but nothing came out. She nodded again. "I never thought of it that way…"

"Well, maybe you should give it a shot," Swarm said, pushing her chin up gently so she would face him. She smiled a tiny bit, but it vanished as quickly as it appeared. She straightened out her dress-which she had had to make slight changes to due to Geo's destroying it, as well as making a new bottle with Sprocket's help-and then looked around. "Where is Spyro? It's eight forty seven. Ben and Sheila should be here any minute."

Swarm thought that was strange. Ben and Sheila were normally up very early, and the first thing they ever did was attend to the Skylanders. He shrugged it off, guessing that yesterday must have worn them out.

Swarm pointed at the Core of Light and rolled his eyes. "Is it really 'zat much of a surprise that 'e and Cynder are sleeping by 'ze Core?" He asked. But when he looked over there, they were already awake and talking, but in very hushed voices and they hadn't moved very far from their sleeping positions.

"Not particularly, at least they're awake," Ninjini replied, floating over to them. Swarm followed her. With Tree Rex, and Bouncer still sleeping, he had nothing else better to do.

Ninjini nudged Spyro once she got close enough. He jumped, stopped talking, and looked left and right before up at Ninjini. "O-oh, h-hi, Ninjini," he stuttered. "How long have you been there?"

"What's your deal?" Ninjini put her hands on her hips and shook her head. "Never mind. I just think you should be ready. Ben and Sheila should be here any moment now."

Spyro nodded, standing on his feet. He prodded Cynder, and the violet dragoness did not stand, but looked up at Ninjini. Immediately, her eyes narrowed and her teeth exposed themselves. She flared her wings slightly. "What do you want?" She snapped bad-temperedly.

"Nothing with you, that's for sure," Ninjini scornfully scorched Cynder with her striking white eyes. She then whipped around and hovered toward Tree Rex and the other Giants, who were beginning to stir. Swarm went to follow, but Spyro stopped him.

"Hey, Swarm?" Spyro asked him, looking at the ground nervously. "Can I ask a favor?"

"Not a problem. What is it?" Swarm sat down and looked at Spyro.

"Well… Can you explain something to Ninjini? She'll never let me tell her… but I just wanted to say I'm sorry," Spyro dipped his head, his wings drooping. "It's my fault Scarlett and Polarity are dead… I shouldn't have just charged into battle with Ace without analyzing what was happening, and I shouldn't have let Scarlett get murdered right under our nose… While I'm still astounded how Geo managed to do it, it's obvious that it's my fault..." Spyro sighed and looked up at Swarm. "But I'm going to do my best. Can you tell that to her?"

Swarm knew it would be hard to get Ninjini to understand, if he could at all, but he nodded anyway. Besides, he didn't like hearing Spyro talk about himself like this. "I will try my best, Spyro," Swarm bowed slightly to him. Swarm had a high amount of respect for Spyro. That dragon had been through more than Swarm had in ten thousand years (granted, most of that had been frozen on Earth, waiting for somebody to find him and the other giants…)!

Spyro smiled. "Thanks, Swarm." Cynder nodded her thanks to him as well and curled up close to Spyro—a lot closer than Swarm had ever seen them. He excused himself from their presence, feeling as though he were intruding on something he shouldn't be.

"Hey, watch it!" Whirlwind growled. Swarm looked down and spotted Whirlwind, who looked as though she had only barely dodged his huge feet. She was holding something in her jaws, and she looked to be in a hurry, as she didn't wait for him to apologize and trotted right over to Spyro and Cynder.

Swarm wanted to apologize, so he waited for her to be finished with whatever she was doing. But he was dumbfounded as to what. Whirlwind gave Cynder some leaves she'd had in her jaws, and Cynder gave a disgusted face and said something to Spyro that made him roll his eyes. She swallowed the leaves, and then coughed a bit.

"Well?" Spyro asked Whirlwind, sounding anxious.

"I can't tell right now, we have to wait a bit," Whirlwind said, walking away. She went towards the dinghy pedestal, where the Tech Skylanders were all gathered around. Drobot was on top of the pedestal, asleep in his metal suit. She woke him up, and they began to chat for a bit. Swarm didn't know how he did it; that suit was ice-cold! He'd felt it before.

Whirlwind never came back in his direction, so Swarm decided he'd apologize to her later. He wandered back over to the Giants (they were all, except Eye-Brawl and Thumpback, now awake) and Ninjini was leaning against a tree, looking lost in thought to the point where she looked to be frowning from frustration.

Swarm sat down next to her. "Ninjini, what do you think Whirlwind and Spyro meant by what they just said?"

"That's what I'm trying to figure out," Ninjini replied, not looking up at him. Swarm nodded and began thinking to himself. Well, he certainly had no idea what they were expecting to happen to Cynder, but it sounded to him like they were trying to figure out if something was wrong with Cynder. But Swarm couldn't figure out what would be wrong with the dark dragoness. She hadn't been acting odd at all lately. And then earlier when Ninjini reminded Spyro about Ben and Sheila Spyro nearly jumped out of his skin…

Swarm shook his head, shaking the thoughts away. His head hurt from thinking.

Ninjini didn't look to be getting any farther than he was. She groaned and opened her eyes. "I give up," she grumbled.

"I gave up long time ago," Swarm crossed his arms and looked at Spyro, who was covering Cynder with his wing and talking to her. Swarm tilted his head. Spyro wasn't talking loud enough for him to hear, even if he had the best hearing of the Giants besides Ninjini.

Whirlwind came back over, and when Spyro asked her something, she nodded. Spyro looked as though he would have done a backflip if it weren't for the rest of the Skylanders watching his odd behavior. Cynder shifted and leaned against the Core of Light, and it looked to Swarm as though she were having a hard time keeping her eyes open.

Spyro jumped onto the side of the Core of Light and called everyone to gather, beaming all the while. Swarm and Ninjini exchanged confused glances. "Why would 'e be glad about 'er being sick or some'zing?" He asked.

"I guess she's not sick," Ninjini shrugged. "Dunno. We might find out now. Whatever it is, he's excited as a kid on Christmas morning."

Swarm didn't comment and walked forward. He and the rest of the Giants were always in the back of the crowd.

"Get up, lazy bones," Hot Head poked Eye-Brawl (or, Brawl, more or less). The headless cyclops gave a start and woke up, pretty much just sitting there. Eye was dropped unceremoniously on the ground, where he blinked a few times and then flapped his batlike wings.

"What was that for, Hot Head?" Eye asked the fire giant, attaching himself to Brawl.

"There's a meeting, sleeping beauty," Hot Head smirked at him. Swarm ducked his head slightly. Hot Head thought of himself as a, as he had put it, a 'good' jerk, and Swarm couldn't stand to be within two feet of him sometimes, although that's kind of hard when the rest of his friends didn't care about his personality.

Tree Rex shook Thumpback awake. The water giant yawned, exposing many teeth, and then scratched his head. "Morning? What's going on?"

"Meeting," Tree Rex said gruffly, taking a seat next to Bouncer and Eye-Brawl. Thumpback wedged himself between Eye-Brawl and Ninjini (Ninjini was hovering right next to Swarm), and began to try to talk to her. Swarm felt his insides burn with something he did not know the name of. But he felt as though he were angry at Thumpback, but he didn't know why…

Shrugging it off, he turned to listen to Spyro. Sonic Boom looked exhausted and had to snap at Godspeed and Lionheart to get them to be quiet, and Jet-Vac was watching from a few feet away, looking concerned. Kaz, Jade, and Flashwing were sitting close to the back of the crowd, and Swarm knew that if Ninjini knew that, there'd likely be a fight. He adjusted how he was sitting so that his body would block out her view of them.

"Skylanders!" Spyro began, sounding cheerful. Chill, who was in the middle of the crowd sitting between Zap, Hot Dog, and Molta, gave a start of surprise and whispered something to Zap, who shrugged. Spyro continued. "This new fire dragon needs to be dealt with! We've delayed it long enough! When Ben and Sheila get here, we're going to Sapphire Isle, and finishing this! Right?"

He was met with an uproar of good-natured catchphrases or taunts aimed the enemy fire dragon's way. Swarm didn't understand how Spyro could change everyone's demeanor with just changing his tone of voice and saying a few overconfident words. It was just another one of the things Swarm respected him for.

"Quick question," Ninjini's voice suddenly rang out over the various others. Everyone quieted down to hear her speak. "How are we going to get there, genius? And don't tell me you just plan on bringing those of us who can fly there, because you're asking for a bloodbath if you do that."

"What's a bloodbath?" Storm asked Sonic Boom, tilting his head.

Sonic Boom shot Ninjini a dark look and shook her head at Storm. "Nothing, nothing. Go play with your brothers and sister," she ushered them away by clicking her beak close to them. Storm didn't look bothered by not knowing what it was, as he began wrestling with Lionheart almost automatically.

"Ninjini, I was hoping you could use some of your magic to help us," Spyro's tone had no sharp edge that would indicate an order rather than a question. He also didn't seem offended by Ninjini's attempt to bring everyone's morale down. He still sounded overly cheerful.

"What happened to Mister Sunshine?" Bouncer asked Tree Rex.

"Not a clue," Tree Rex answered, blinking once.

Swarm didn't understand it either. Usually, the second Ninjini said something like that, Spyro was reprimanding her like a father to a misbehaving child.

Ninjini herself looked slightly taken aback. "Well, I guess. But it's dangerous, you do know that."

"Yeah, I know," Spyro turned away from her. "So now, we wait!" He said happily. "Train, play, whatever it is you guys wanna do." He jumped down and said, "Dismissed!"

"I never thought I'd say this, but geez, I think there's such a thing as too happy," Hot Head said, laughing. "We've got a ship down at Sapphire Isle, the people in it are probably long dead by now, and look at him!"

"Weird," Ninjini murmured to herself.

"Very," Thumpback said, coming to stand next to Ninjini, shoving Swarm out of the way slightly. Swarm bit his tongue, stopping the profanity he had been about to spit at Thumpback, and walked away from him and Ninjini, feeling spite overtake him. He had no reason to lash out at Thumpback-so why did he want to?

He shook his head and just looked around. Ninjini wasn't paying much attention to Thumpback, even though he seemed determined to tail her everywhere she went. Swarm felt annoyance prick at his wings, and tore his gaze off Thumpback.

Next to the Tree of Life, Arbo and Camo were chatting with each other. They were interrupted when Rider came stumbling from behind the tree, Hex shooting an orb after him. "And good day to you!" She mocked his accent, and sharply turned away from him, her arms crossed.

"Yeah, screw you too!" He shot after her. He fixed the helmet on his head and dusted himself off. Camo snorted and tapped on his leg.

"Dude, go home, you're drunk," Camo laughed maniacally after saying that.

"Oh, shut up," Rider snapped bad-temperedly at him.

"Oh, you're not drunk? You're usually drunk off your butt," Camo continued to laugh.

"Hardy, har, har!" Rider righted his belt and stomped over towards Fright.

"What? He usually is," Camo said to Arbo, who was glaring at him.

Swarm just put his hand to his face. Why would Rider be drinking? It was still quite a shocker… He had never shown any interest in it before, and nothing was wrong with him… Or at least, nothing Swarm knew of. He shrugged it off and sighed. _Every hero has their skeletons in the closet,_ Swarm repeated Chop Chop's words in his head. He looked over towards Chill, Zap, and _Riley_? Now Swarm was beginning to wonder if he was hallucinating. Riley and Chill couldn't stand to be within a three foot radius of one another!

Well, this could definitely get interesting.

"Zap, come on, I wanted to show you something!" Riley exclaimed, dashing around her brother and nipping his tail. He flicked his tail to knock her off, and then jumped on top of her, beginning to playfight. Chill tapped her foot impatiently, simply glaring at them.

The siblings untangled themselves and then took to staring at one another in a threatening way. "I'd say nice try, but it wasn't," Zap mimicked Cynder's line, and Swarm grinned a bit. _I can't blame 'im. Cynder might not be 'ze first person of choice I 'ave as a partner in crime-fighting, but she's got some good lines!_ Swarm thought.

"Mess with the dragon, get the horns!" Riley mocked Spyro's phrase and jumped at her brother again, while Chill watched on, looking exasperated more than amused by the scene. Swarm laughed and was joined at the side by Bouncer.

"So, what'cha lookin' at?" The Roboto-Ball player asked in a bored tone.

Swarm flicked his gaze towards Ninjini and Thumpback real quick. Ninjini was showing him a trick with her bottle, and the water giant was commenting on how 'graceful' she was. Swarm ground his teeth and then answered Bouncer in a darker tone than he had meant to. "No'zing."

"You ain't lookin' at 'no'zing'," Bouncer mocked him, smirking. Swarm snapped away from staring at Ninjini and Thumpback and his face flushed red slightly.

"What are you talking about?" Swarm asked him, avoiding his yellow-white gaze.

"Tsk, tsk, don't dream ya life away, 'kay?" Bouncer wagged a finger in his face, rolling away towards Sprocket, Sunburn, and Drobot.

Swarm fumed silently about what Bouncer had just said, not realizing his blush was getting worse by the second. _Dreaming what away? I was only looking at Ninjini and 'Zumpback! I look at 'ze o'zers all 'ze time!_

"You're redder than I am!" Hot Head joked, flopping down next to him. Swarm looked away sharply.

"What do you want, Hot Head?" Swarm asked him, rolling his eyes, his blush beginning to subside.

"Well, don't you think it's weird Ben and Sheila aren't here yet? And even weirder that Mister Sunshine doesn't notice?" Hot Head pointed at Spyro. He was talking excitedly with Cynder, who was blushing madly. Swarm furrowed his brows.

"I'm beginning to 'zink Spyro might 'ave finally lost it. But bo'z are strange, yes," Swarm nodded. It _was_ strange. Ben and Sheila had said they were going to be there, but they weren't…

Swarm glanced at Ninjini and Thumpback again. Thumpback tried to say something to her, but Ninjini shoved him away. "For good Eon's sake, will you leave me alone?" She finally exclaimed. "And where the hell are those two mites for Portal Masters?"

"Those 'mites' are our replacement for Eon," Tree Rex scolded from beside Eye-Brawl, Crusher, and Granite. "You could show some respect, you know."

"Okay, _Dad,_" Ninjini sneered, whipping her ponytail and floating down towards the Core. She stopped just before she got close enough to Spyro and a grin crept across her face. She then returned to the Giants, smiling wide. Swarm wanted to feel happy that she was smiling, but something about that smile unnerved him.

"What're you smilin' for, Miss Evil Diva?" Bouncer teased her.

"Oh, I know why Spyro's so happy now," Ninjini talked in a tone that could have matched Spyro's earlier joyous tone. "Too bad I'm going to ruin it for him."

"What are you talking about?" Tree Rex got to his feet and walked over to her.

Ninjini just hummed to herself, clasping her hands together behind her back as she leaned against a tree. "Oh, not much. Just—brace yourselves-" She grinned again. "Mister Holier Than Thou got Cynder pregnant."

"Whoa, bro, too much info!" Bouncer exclaimed, laughing.

"He did what?" Swarm asked, wondering whether his ears were deceiving him. He blinked a few times. "Are you serious?" Swarm began thinking furiously. _First off, 'ow in Skylands did 'e figure out she was pregnant? Second off, 'ow on Skylands did 'e get 'er pregnant wi'z all of us around? _Swarm then got a bad image of them flying off one day… He recoiled from the thought and shook it from his head. "_EUH! _Bad image!" He exclaimed.

"Dude, what the heck would you say that out loud for? Now I'mma get one!" Bouncer punched Swarm in the shoulder gently. Swarm laughed slightly and rubbed the spot. It sort of hurt.

"It astounds me as to how you guys find a way to make everything related to something disturbing, disgusting, or just plain dirty," Tree Rex said, face-palming and sitting down. "Shouldn't we be supporting him?"

"I could," Ninjini said, tilting her head. "Then again, he also killed my sister, so—"

"Ninjini, 'e did not kill your sister, so you can knock 'zat nonsense off right now," Swarm had had it with her comments and snide remarks. "Geo or one of 'ze o'zer dragons did it, not Spyro. 'E's our leader, 'e does 'is best, and 'e blames 'imself for every'zing 'zat's happened lately! Do you know 'ow 'ard it is for someone like 'im to admit 'zat or for anyone to keep pressing on wi'z 'zat much on 'zeir shoulders? I don't blame 'im for isolating 'imself when Eon left, or when Trig and Gill stopped talking to 'im! I don't blame 'im for snapping at you so much! Like it or not, 'e's all we have to suffice as a leader! And, get 'zis, he's responsible for ALL our lives! Yours included! 'E didn't know Ace 'ad Polarity pinned wi'z 'is blade right on 'er 'zroat, 'e didn't know Geo and Boulder were stalking us when Scarlett was killed, 'e didn't know! It's not 'is job to know every'zing!" Swarm panted after his explosion of anger.

"But like you just said, it's his job to take care of us, right?" Ninjini defended herself. "And Kaz killed Scarlett, not Geo or Boulder! THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT! He keeps Kaz here even though he's a killer! HE'S A MAGIC DRAGON! HE CAN CONJURE MAGIC, CREATE COPIES OF HIMSELF, AND VANISH INTO THIN AIR!" She burst, breathing heavily. Her eyes were narrowed in fury, and her swords appeared in her hands. "I KNOW HOW AND WHY HE KILLED SCARLETT! BUT DOES ANYBODY LISTEN TO ME? NO!" Ninjini reared back her arm and threw one of her swords, and Swarm only barely managed to dodge it. The sword hit the ground. "Well, you know what, nobody ever said I had to become a Skylander! Eon's not here to stop me, so I QUIT!" She closed her eyes in concentration, muttered something, and snapped her fingers, and was gone.

Swarm had yet to realize that nearly all the Skylanders were gathering up behind him. He balled his fists and roared into the air, "FINE! GET OUT OF 'ERE! NOBODY WANTED YOU ANYWAY!" All the while, he ignored the things Ninjini had said about Kaz.

Spyro urgently walked through the crowd, going right up to Swarm. "What's happening?" He demanded.

"Well, Swarm just saved yo' profile from bein' ruined by Ninjini, and what else… oh right, Ninjini just quit the Skylanders!" Bouncer exclaimed, looking annoyed. "Man, am I surrounded by idiot young'uns or somethin'?"

"Bouncer, you're only twenty four, if it weren't for the ten thousand years that you were frozen, you'd be no older than Dino-Rang or Wham-Shell," Tree Rex reprimanded him. He turned his attention to Spyro. "But… yes… Ninjini just, er, quit…"

Spyro shrugged. "Not really her decision. She's still frozen on Earth, remember?"

"But Ben and Sheila are leaving us on the Portal twenty-four-seven, remember?" Hot Head reminded him.

"Yeah, but they should be here any minute—"

Swarm was angry and hurt. Ninjini had refused to believe him, had insulted Spyro, and had just left. If Ben and Sheila weren't there, they weren't coming. "Face it, Spyro, 'zey're not coming! 'Zey chickened out and saved 'zeir own skins!" He shouted, sitting on the ground.

Spyro looked taken aback. "No, they wouldn't do that…"

"Spyro…" Sonic Boom suddenly spoke from the crowd, forcing her way out from between Hot Dog and Molta. "Actually, I do think Swarm's right, but not for that reason. Angie was terrified by what you told her. I know I'd be if I was suddenly thrown in a new world where murders occur every other—sometimes, every—day and such brutal things happened all around them. I wouldn't allow my children there if I was payed. And to be completely honest, I don't think we should allow those twelve year old children to endanger their lives for us. Can't we handle it on our own? I mean, we've dealt with four of them already, right?"

Spyro backed away and shook his head, a haunted look filling his red eyes. Swarm felt his anger at Ninjini subside slightly, replaced with concern, and he looked at the purple dragon, who began wailing almost at once.

"No! We needed their help! With Eon gone, who—" he broke off and clenched his jaw, as though he had just realized what he was yelling aloud. He was trembling, and Swarm had no idea why. He guessed it might be from anger. Maybe fear. But he couldn't be sure.

Cynder shoved her way through the crowd as well and nudged Spyro. "Come on, Spyro… it's okay. You're doing just fine."

"No," Spyro shook his head. "No, I'm not…"

Cynder led him away, back through the crowd, back towards the Core of Light. Tree Rex and Bouncer joined Swarm at his side, and the crowd of Skylanders began to disperse.

Nobody spoke for a long time. But when somebody did, it was Swarm. He gulped right before he said anything. "We're losing… aren't we?"

Tree Rex sighed. "As long as we tear each other apart like this, yes, we are," he said. "But we're Skylanders," Tree Rex patted Swarm's back. "And being Skylanders, we take three steps back, then one giant leap forward. That's how it's always been. We struggle through the storm, and then we find the rainbow. You know what I mean?"

"I got the first one, but not the second one," Bouncer said, nodding. "But yeah, 'course we do! We're the Skylanders, duh!"

_"All for one..."_

_ "One for all!"_

Swarm, Tree Rex, and Bouncer all turned their heads to find the source of the singing. Hot Dog and Molta were saying the harmonized words a few feet away.

"Hot Dog, Molta!" Tree Rex grabbed their attention.

Both dogs flattened their ears to their head and laughed nervously. "We bother you, Tree Rex?" Molta asked, sounding even more embarrassed than he looked.

"No, no! It was good! I wanted you to come closer so we could hear better!" Tree Rex motioned for them to come over.

Swarm and Bouncer exchanged glances, and Bouncer shrugged. "Their better an' Gill Grunt, anyway," he said.

Hot Dog and Molta's ears pricked, and they bounced over. "You really like it?" Hot Dog asked, he and Molta's eyes shining. Tree Rex chuckled and nodded.

"We could all use a bit of a morale boost. Why don't you sing more of it for us?" Tree Rex asked.

Molta and Hot Dog, looking embarrassed, looked at one another. "Well, that's really all Hot Dog and Molta's got, 'cause nobody helps Hot Dog or Molta…" Molta said, smiling weakly.

"From what I've heard, don't ask Gill Grunt," Bouncer warned them.

"Arf! No need to even tell Hot Dog that!" Hot Dog exclaimed.

"Skylanders!" Spyro called forward everyone. Swarm was used to the surprise meetings by now, and didn't think he had enough energy to resist Spyro's call for a meeting anyway. He wandered closer to the Core, being careful not to step on anyone, and took a seat. Bouncer lowered the height on his wheel and stood on Swarm's right, and Thumpback flopped down on his left.

Swarm wanted to say something cold to the whale, but Spyro interrupted him. The purple dragon was standing on top of the Core of Light. "Okay… it looks as though Ben and Sheila aren't coming," he said hollowly.

He wasn't met with much shock. Mostly everyone had already decided this was probably going to happen.

He continued. "But the mission must go on. Let's g-"

"Let her go! RIGHT NOW!" Sonic Boom roared. Swarm turned and saw the griffin attacking some creature that was about the size of Wrecking Ball, but had a tail, wings, and was red. But Swarm had no way of figuring out what it was with Sonic Boom attempting to maul it.

Jet-Vac rushed in and blasted them apart with his Vac-Blaster. Sonic Boom, holding onto one of her babies (Mayflower), was thrown left and the red creature was thrown right.

The red creature was odd-looking, but Swarm could now tell it was a dragon. It hissed and revealed sharp fangs. Swarm scoffed. "Is 'zat all? Good Eon, Whirlwind, Jet-Vac, and Sonic Boom, if 'zat's 'ze dragon 'zat scared you all away from Sapphire Isle…"

"I don't think that's what scared them away from Sapphire Isle!" Bouncer pulled on Swarm's right arm and pointed into the sky. Swarm felt his heart drop like a stone.

"Well, that makes sense!" Hot Dog said, smiling.

Swarm ignored him. In the sky, waiting to attack, was an army of tiny red dragons that were identical to the one that had tried to maul Mayflower. Out from the mass, he heard one voice shout, _"GO!"_

The battle was on, was it? Well, then he was ready! Swarm spread his arms, his sword-like armor on his hands glinting in the sunlight.

"Skylanders!" Spyro bellowed. "GAME ON!"

* * *

**And as I've said, _The Most Frightening of Rides _is indeed up now. It will be updated slower than this one though due to the pace it needs to stay at.**

**Thank you to all of those who continue to review and read this story! It really does mean a lot. I have been reading your stories as well, at least, if you'd reviewed, favorited, followed, etc. **

**Don't be afraid to say in your reviews what you like, don't like, your favorite character, maybe even predictions. I certainly wouldn't mind taking requests for POV characters, except for a few due to their place in the story later on. **

**Until chapter 17, see you! ^_^**


	17. Blitz of the Trade

_**Blitz of the Trade**_

* * *

Flameslinger was overwhelmed. There were fire dragons EVERYWHERE! In the sky! Diving straight at them!

He grabbed Stealth Elf and shoved her out of the way as several dove in their direction. Landing in the dirt, she threw him off her. "What is wrong with you? We have to fight them!" She shot at him. Flameslinger was having trouble deciding who was who. Everyone was running around, fighting, everywhere… His head was filled with just reddish images of various sorts, but the heat flowing through the air was making him dizzy…

Flameslinger saw the world in variations of reds, oranges, yellows, and golds, and he saw everyone with their 'fire signature'—a mystical signature that showed different variations of fire inside the orange outline of a being. Depending on the person, this fire would be bigger, smaller, burn violently or hardly at all. Though it was quite a beautiful world to his eyes, when there were many fire beings or if there were many people running around, it could be a pain!

"Steal'z Elf?" He called her name, but no answer came. Had she really run off already? He tore out his bow and arrow, pointing it around.

"Haha! Blind as a Molekin, I see!"

Flameslinger pointed his arrow at where the voice had come from, and shot it. With so many evil and good energies flowing around him, he had no way of knowing just where he had shot that arrow. But it was apparent enough when he heard Hot Dog yelp. "Watch it, Flameslinger!" The dog barked at him.

"Sorry!" Flameslinger exclaimed, biting his lower lip. There were too many! Too many! He ducked away, breathing heavily. Not only were these creatures everywhere, but they were all fire creatures!

Flameslinger was pinned to the ground by somebody. The creature was close enough to where Flameslinger, using the outline of fire inside what had just pinned him to the ground, found out he was a dragon. Flameslinger could also tell it was not one of the Skylanders, as it did not have any sort of fire signature he recognized from one of them. He also didn't recognize Kaz or Riley's fire signature. He punched the dragon and then sent an arrow flying at it. It squealed and toppled off, but the squeal was one Flameslinger had heard before.

"Oh, 'Zor!" He exclaimed, singling out the air dragon. "What on Skylands did 'vou 'ave me on 'ze ground for, 'vou fool?"

"B-because he told me to!" Thor wailed. Flameslinger was overwhelmed again as he saw, in his mind's eye, everybody running around fighting. He was only able to identify a few of the more of the still Skylanders-Tree Rex, Crusher, Sonic Boom-wait, Sonic Boom? Why would she be standing still…? He shook his head. "Thor, talk nonsense later, I—"

"PAWS OFF, PAL!" He heard Sonic Boom roar. Flameslinger dashed toward her voice. He stumbled around and found himself leaning against her cave. He needed a moment to get his bearings. He had no idea what was going on.

The center of the Citadel was swarming with activity. Small fire dragons were overrunning the place, and everyone was doing everything in their power to fight against them. Flameslinger was able to single out several of the Skylanders.

The tech Skylanders were all firing lasers and rockets and bullets quickly at the dragons, keeping them on their toes. This annoyed Flameslinger further, as he knew that would mean there was no chance of anybody siting still.

Spyro was defending Cynder brutally. Several fire dragons charged his way, and Spyro immediately shot fireballs and rammed his skull into them. Cynder herself was firing lightning at whomever she could, but Spyro seemed determined to keep her pinned against the Core of Light, refusing to allow her to move. One tried to sneak up behind him and he grabbed it with his teeth, throwing it to the side.

Many of the Magic Skylanders, besides Spyro, were battling a good ten or so of the small dragons. Flameslinger wasn't able to directly make out anyone due to the amount of movement, but knew they were of the Magic Element.

He could make out groups of the other Skylanders based on element, but no specific name.

In front of him, Jet-Vac, Sonic Boom, and Whirlwind were defending Sonic Boom's cave against a wave of at least fifteen of the dragons. Flameslinger breathed deeply and sent out his senses, and was able to make out the fire signatures of Sonic Boom's four children inside of the cave, and realized that Sonic Boom, Whirlwind, and Jet-Vac were having difficulty holding off the fire dragon onslaught.

Flameslinger raised his bow and fired it straight up, and three arrows came raining down in front of the fire dragons attacking the Air Skylanders. He dashed out in front of them and charged at one fire dragon who appeared, in his mind's eye, as different from the rest. He didn't have a robotically set mind, and he was colored vaguely different. He also could speak and was larger than the others.

The fire dragon slapped Flameslinger's back, throwing him to the ground. Flameslinger was again oppressed by the amount of fire creatures around him. Feeling claustrophobic, as though he was about to hyperventilate, he shot arrows in every direction. The fire dragons backed off, and Flameslinger leapt to his feet, running as far as he could from the battle.

Panting, he stood next to the Tree of Life. He couldn't fight in this battle. It was too much. He couldn't comprehend who was who, and he was likely only going to get himself killed or end up helping somebody else get killed. But he didn't want to hide like a coward! Besides, what would the others-especially Stealth Elf-think if they saw him hiding and watching while the rest of them battled? Flameslinger took a deep sigh. No. This time he'd have to take off his blindfold.

He prepared to untie his blindfold when he heard a loud "NO!"

It sounded as though it had come from Jet-Vac. Flameslinger quickly undid his blindfold and was dazzled by the sudden visions that filled his mind to the point where it gave him a headache. He knew that if anybody saw him with his blindfold off, his eyes would likely distract them-his eyes had actual fire glowing in them! But what he saw was definitely more interesting than his own eyes.

Spyro and some of the Giants fought off the straggling fire dragons that were attacking the mass of the Skylanders, but near Sonic Boom's den was where the real action was going down. Jet-Vac was locked in what appeared to be mortal combat with the larger fire dragon.

This fire dragon, though larger than the other small ones, he was only about the size of Sunburn. He snapped his jaws close to Jet-Vac's face and tore out something from his hands. The smaller fire dragons around the Citadel joined his side and opened their jaws, fire flowing from their mouths. A ring of flames surrounded them, and the larger dragon laughed loudly. He then turned his eyes back on the Skylanders. Flameslinger's fists balled when he saw what the fire dragon had taken from Jet-Vac. It was Godspeed!

"Looks like I have a hostage!" The fire dragon laughed.

"What is it you want?" Spyro demanded, his tail lashing.

The fire dragon smirked. "We want Sunburn!"

"Me?" Sunburn echoed hollowly. "What did I do?!"

"Nothing yet!" The fire dragon's emerald eyes scorched the phoenix hybrid. "But you have special powers He cannot risk leaving you out here with! You are a threat!"

Sunburn flattened himself to the ground. "What special powers? All I can do is spit fire, teleport, put fire around myself, and fly!"

"Wrong! You have power over telekinesis, don't play us for fools!" The fire dragon snapped.

Sunburn smiled and stood up, flying into the air. "Well, you know what? I just did play you for a fool! Because you just told me what my power was! Now I KNOW I can use it against you!" Sunburn laughed.

"AND PUT GODSPEED DOWN!" Sonic Boom's roar came from behind the fire dragon's head as she whipped him in the back of the head with her tail. The fire dragon was knocked to the ground, his grip on Godspeed loosening to the point where Sonic Boom was able to grab him. She set the baby griffin down.

Flameslinger put his blindfold back on. With everybody standing still, he had a perfectly clear shot. He dashed forward, and pulled back his bow's string with an arrow attached, and sent three flying in the fire dragon's direction. The smaller dragons screeched and vanished, but the larger one was speared in the shoulder.

He roared and snarled. "Fools, all of you! I'm only Blaze! Wait until Pyro gets a hold of you all! That'll be the day!" He snarled. With that, he turned around and flew off. Flameslinger sunk to the ground, feeling exhausted and panicky after the battle. He could see clearly now, the fire signature of everybody was just as he was used to it being.

He staggered back to his feet and stumbled over towards the staircase that led to the beach. Truth be told, he stayed down on the beach often because it was less stressful to figure out who was who. It was also a lot calmer.

He heard somebody coming close to him, and pricked his ears. He sensed out the fire signature of the creature coming towards him-a female, an elf-and it didn't take him more than a second to figure out it was Stealth Elf, due to the fact that the fire energy inside her wasn't quite as strong as his own. He sighed in relief and she stood next to him. "What happened out there?" She asked him.

Flameslinger felt as though he had a headache big enough to send Ramses into a coma, but excitement began to replace the dull throb. "We beat 'zem!" He exclaimed.

"Yeah…" Stealth Elf mumbled, looking away.

Flameslinger tipped his head. "What is wrong?" He asked her.

"Well, we beat that guy for now, but he's going to come back. Flynn and Cali are still missing, and I can bet you it was them who went down at Sapphire Isle three days ago… I doubt they made it," she said, slumping to the ground, twiddling her thumbs.

Flameslinger sat down next to her. "'Ey, I am sure 'zey are fine!" He patted her back. He _hated_, _despised _seeing her sad like this. He then smiled and put his finger under his nose, feeling like a genius. "'Ey, Steal'z Elf! I 'ave a moo-stash!" He exclaimed, wiggling his finger. Due to his accent, he pronounced 'mustache' as 'moo-stash', or at least he did to make her laugh. She needed to relax a bit.

She looked at him and giggled. "What are you doing?"

"What? It is my moo-stash!" He continued to wiggle his finger and she laughed at him.

"That's one puny 'moo-stash'," she mimicked him.

"Ow dare 'vou!" He jumped to his feet, keeping his finger under his nose. "I do not know what 'vou are talking about! My moo-stash is not puny," he pretended to defiantly stand up, and look away, as though shunning her.

She got to her feet and went to push his hand away from his face, but ended up laughing instead. "You… are so stupid you're funny sometimes…!" She laughed. He grinned. That was exactly what he wanted her to be doing, laughing. If it meant at him, then so be it! He stuck his other finger beneath her nose.

"Look, now 'vou 'ave moo-stash!" He laughed, and she batted his hand away.

"Okay, now that's getting old," Stealth Elf said, putting her hands on her hips, although he got the feeling she was stifling laughter.

"Very," Flameslinger copied her, placing his hands on his hips and frowning. What to do next… Hm…

"Hey, Giggles and Chuckles!" Camo interrupted them. "Come on! Spyro's about to give a speech or something," the plant-dragon hybrid led them toward the Core of Light, and Flameslinger began to identify everyone by their fire signature. Spyro was standing on the Core of Light, Cynder laying beneath the Core's side, the giants were all in the back, and he was standing next to Stealth Elf, Camo, Ignitor, Warnado, and Dino-Rang.

Spyro spoke first. "Look," he began, his voice cracking slightly. "We need a plan. I won't lie; I have absolutely no idea what we're going to do. Flynn is still missing on his ship. I think it's pretty obvious it was them who went down at Sapphire Isle. But until Blaze and Pyro-or at least I think his name's Pyro, from what Blaze said-is defeated, we are not moving from the Citadel. A team of Skylanders will go out to find Ninjini," Spyro cleared his throat. "Drobot, Whirlwind, Stealth Elf, Swarm, Sunburn, Jet-Vac, Hex, Flashwing, Jade, Kaz, Thor, and myself will go."

"'Zor?!" Flameslinger exclaimed along with at least thirty of the other Skylanders.

Spyro's voice suddenly turned harsh. "Thor has helped us in this fight! During that fight with Blaze, he saved Flameslinger's life, helped Kaz, helped me, and I had to stop him from interfering with Sonic Boom's fight!" Spyro snarled. "I don't think we have any reason not to trust him."

"Besides the fact that he helped murder my sister?!" Whirlwind roared. "I'm not going in the same team with that killer! And you know the second Ninjini sees him and Kaz she's going to try to kill them!"

Spyro flared his wings and spoke in a harsh tone. "Look! We have eight killer dragons and one mega dragon to protect Skylands from! We need to stick together now more than ever! Don't you all get it? You all can argue over petty squabbles for years after this-but there may not BE any of those years if we don't stop them now!" Spyro panted after his outburst.

"Who said we were going to stop fighting them?" Molta asked in surprise. The little yellow dog dashed toward Spyro and licked him. "Come on! Haven't you heard? We're the Skylanders, yes, yes!"

"Three steps back, giant leap forward, yes, yes!" Hot Dog yipped, supporting his brother.

Spyro sighed and grinned slightly at them. "Guess so. But first, we need to find one important team member. Ninjini. After that, we take out Blaze and Pyro. We'll do all of this tomorrow. Good afternoon everyone, and please try to relax without killing one another," he was stopped from jumping down by Sonic Boom, who shoved him practically into the Core of Light.

"Relax? _Relax_?" She shrieked. "My son or daughter could have been killed in that! And you want me to relax? This is no place to raise children! This isn't even a place fit to live! I'd rather go back to Raucous Ridge and live there than here!" She exclaimed.

Cynder bared her teeth and shoved Sonic Boom away from Spyro. Flameslinger didn't need to see her to know she wasn't happy.

Sonic Boom fell, but jumped back up, snarling. "Keep your claws to yourself, Prego!" She whirled around and when Jet-Vac tried to stop her, she clicked her beak close to his leg, nearly biting him. He stepped back and allowed her to pass, not snapping or even reacting, really. Sonic Boom stamped back into her cave, Godspeed, Lionheart, Storm, and Mayflower close by.

Flameslinger's mind was plunged into a frenzy. "Prego?" He echoed.

Cynder looked surprised, but made no comment. Rather, she helped Spyro up and acted as though nothing had happened.

Spyro growled as he dusted himself off. "You know what!" He exclaimed. "If you don't like each other, don't go near one another!" He spat. "If only Eon were here, but that stupid, white-bearded fool left. Probably the worst time he could have decided, too-"

"Spyro, what did Sonic Boom mean just now?" Flashwing asked, stepping forward from the crowd. Spyro sighed again and nodded.

"Alright, fine. Yes…. Cynder is pregnant… by me…" He dipped his head in embarrassment.

"That's great news!" Flashwing suddenly exclaimed. Several heads turned her way and she awkwardly backed off a bit. "What? We need something to cheer all you depressing people up."

"Great news!" Rider called, raising his spear in acknowledgement of the situation. Fright gave a squawk of approval.

"It is great news," Sonic Boom murmured, flying into the air, her children on her back. "But I'm afraid I won't be around to see them. I hate to say it, but I guess this is goodbye for me as well. I will not risk having my children either mutilated or mentally damaged before their adulthood. Goodbye, Spyro, and Skylanders. I may be bound to the Skylanders by Earth, but not by oath," she said. She threw her helmet to the ground and the cuffs that had been around her paws. "I will not leave like Ninjini did, in an explosion of anger, but rather as one of peace. Being a Skylander is no longer safe…" With that, she turned and flew away, growing smaller in the distance.

"Well 'zen!" Flameslinger began, putting his hands on his shoulders. "'Zat certainly could 'ave gone better!"

"No kidding!" Stealth Elf shot at him.

"Enough, guys. Rest for the night. Tomorrow we find Ninjini and we'll try and convince Sonic Boom to come back..." Spyro said dully. "This is no time to have children, and boy am I a fool…" Spyro jumped down and disappeared behind the Tree of Life, Cynder following him.

Flameslinger felt annoyed by everybody's dark and depressed demeanor lately. "I am surrounded by Debby Downers. Absolutely surrounded," he said, pouting, putting his hands on his hips. He could tell the other Skylanders were beginning to disperse, and felt even more irritated when Stealth Elf left down the stairs to the beach. "Well, just leave Flameslinger to talk to 'imself, no problem wi'z 'zat…"

Flameslinger didn't expect to hear any comment in response. He headed over to the staircase that led to the beach and jumped onto the railing, sliding down it. Hey, just because everyone else was determined to be as big of a Debby Downer as possible didn't mean he had to be. _Coolness points go to Flameslinger! _He thought to himself, landing on the sand next to Stealth Elf, who was looking out of the beach. "And 'ze crowd goes wild!" He began to play an air guitar on his bow, and Stealth Elf practically slapped herself in the face with the force of her face-palm.

"Flameslinger, really?" She asked him.

"Really what? Why 'vou no like my air goo-tar?" He crossed his arms, his bow falling onto the ground, feigning hurt, mispronouncing 'guitar' on purpose.

"Okay, fine, your air guitar is awesome," Stealth Elf laughed, playfully pushing him. He pushed her back.

"'Vou know, where I come from, it is not bad to 'it girls," he wagged a finger in her face, sticking his tongue out at her.

"And where I come from we don't hit guys, we just knife 'em," she responded, sticking out her tongue at him.

"And I can shoot flaming arrows, 'vour point?" Flameslinger continued to stick his tongue out, and she pinched it. He pulled it back into his mouth and grinned. "Geez, Steal'z Elf, if you wanted some'zing from me, just ask," he teased her, poking her shoulder.

"Yeah, I want something from you," she walked in a circle around him, trailing her finger around his waist. He began to feel a little hot under his clothes, but then she cooled him off by shoving him into the water.

"Haha! You fell for it!" She laughed, falling on the ground.

Flameslinger jumped out of the water, gasping from the cold. "Oh, yeah?" He grabbed her and shoved her into the water. "Steal'z one, Flame two," he stuck his tongue out at her again.

"Dude, that's even," she laughed, getting out and wrestling him to the ground. Flameslinger found himself right beneath her. He smirked.

"Gee, Steal'z, if you really want some'zing 'zat bad, just ask, good Eon, I'm not 'zat bad am I?" he laughed, and she shoved him into the ground further before vanishing. Flameslinger got to his feet and crossed his arms, tapping his foot irritably. "I can't even see 'vou when 'vou're not in Steal'z mode. What makes 'vou 'zink I can in Steal'z mode?" He asked, pouting.

"That's the point!" Her voice came from behind him, but she did not reappear quite yet. When she appeared again, she was right behind him. "Boo!" She exclaimed.

He fell into the water and pretended to laugh. "Aha, aha, so funny I forgot to laugh," he said, getting back up and shaking the water off him. His ponytail came undone and blue hair flopped down in his face, making him colder and covering nearly his entire face. He blew out a puff of breath in exasperation, making only enough room on his face for his mouth to be seen. "Fine. Steal'z two and Flame one."

She moved his hair out of his face and giggled. "Aren't you ever going to get that monster cut?" She asked him.

"What? 'Vou do not like my monster? 'Ard to tame, actually," he scrambled his own hair, making it even more tangled and unruly-looking. Stealth Elf laughed and fell to the ground again.

"Where do you come up with this stuff?" She gasped.

"Well, I 'zink of it, and 'zen my mou'z says it. Sounds 'bout right. Now, if 'vou'll excuse me, I must go tame 'ze big furry monster on top of my 'ead," he scrambled his own hair again, before walking over to the water and dunking his head in, wetting down his hair. He brushed his fingers through it to straighten it back out and picked the brown ponytail up off the ground, fixing it. All the while, he reflected on how he had managed to cheer up Stealth Elf.

_Well, 'zere was 'ze air guitar, 'ze part about knifing guys and 'itting girls, 'zen 'ze part where we just shoved each o'zer into 'ze water, _he smirked. _Easy! Steal'z Elf really isn't 'zat 'ard to cheer up…_

He suddenly got a great idea. He pretended to scream and jumped into the water (acting as though he'd been dragged in). He dove under the water and felt blind almost immediately. Water had no heat energy in it that he could use to move around, so he had to rely on the dock and fish in the water to 'see'.

He could hear Stealth Elf calling his name in a panicked voice. He swam beneath the pier and onto the other size, coming up briefly to get a breath of air, before diving down again. Stealth Elf hadn't seen him, and was still looking at the spot where he'd vanished. He tiptoed onto shore and crept up behind her, before yelling, "I AM LEVIA'ZEN! FEAR ME!"

Stealth Elf shrieked and fell, but then jumped to her feet and shoved him to the ground. _AGAIN. _Flameslinger laughed the entire time. _'Zat. Was. Priceless!_ "Hahahahaha!" He laughed, even though Stealth Elf had practically stomped him into the sand.

"That wasn't funny!" She said, although he could tell she was suppressing a smile.

"'Vou kidding me?" Flameslinger looked up and continued to laugh, feeling as though his lungs were going to implode. "'Zat was 'ILARIOUS!"

"Oh yeah?" She jumped on top of him and put a knife to his throat. Flameslinger wanted to make a comment on how awkward they looked, with her lying on top of him on the beach, but decided against it, as she had a dagger right next to his throat. "What have I told you? Only I am the master of silent and deadly!"

"'Vou sure are, 'zose farts of 'vours are killer, woo-wee!" Flameslinger laughed loudly. He had HAD to say that. She had practically walked into it! She attempted to shove him further into the ground, but it didn't work. He suddenly put on a poker face. "What, did 'vou forget 'zere was a ground below me? Sheesh, and 'zey say I'm 'ze clown…"

"Will you shut up for a second so I can breathe?" Stealth Elf said through gasps as she laughed, weakly attempting to shove him further into the ground again.

"'ELLO, DID YOU HEAR ME? 'Zere is a ground benea'z me, 'vou can't shove me any far'zer into 'ze sand!" He told her, and she let him go, falling on top of him laughing. He smirked. "Oh, 'i, 'zere, Steal'z Elf, nice of you to drop in for a visit."

"You're such a class clown, you know that?" Stealth Elf said, getting up off him.

"Yet 'vou were 'ze one laying on top of me, in broad daylight, on a beach," Flameslinger crossed his arms. "Sounds legit!"

"Man, if only I had a video camera!" Zap's voice caught him and Stealth Elf completely off guard. The water dragon zipped around them and came to a stop next to Flameslinger. He stuck out his tongue. "You guys are hilarious! Oh, and Stealth Elf, wait till night, wouldja?" He laughed, Chill giggling a few feet away.

"'Vou're no better, Zap. I 'zought 'zere was a ghost in 'ze Citadel last night 'zose moans were so loud!" He teased him. No, he hadn't actually heard anything last night.

"What are you talking about?" Zap exclaimed, sounding shocked, blushing.

"A banshee would 'ave been ashamed," Flameslinger continued to tease him, sticking his tongue out.

Chill interrupted them all, and Flameslinger stifled laughter upon realizing Chill had a blush on her face. It actually wasn't all that hard to tell. Since Flamslinger saw everybody in an orange outline, and in various places of their body, certain parts would be highlighted in red-those were the 'hottest' places physically on them. And Chill and Zap's faces were beet red in his vision.

Chill cleared her throat. "Come on, Zap, I t'ought we were going to train," she said.

"Yeah, yeah, I know, I'm coming," the water dragon said, following her.

Flameslinger yawned, feeling exhaustion tug at him. "Well, Steal'z Elf, want to call it a night?"

"It looks to only be, like, six," Stealth Elf said.

"Yeah, but we've also fought an army of tiny red dragons today. I am tired," he yawned again.

"Good point. I'll come over in a minute," she said, hopping onto the stone block that moved back and forth over the water.

"Okay," he nodded and ran back up the stairs, feeling like a champion. If Stealth Elf was happy, he was happy. He trotted merrily over to the Tree of Life, where Camo snickered and tripped him with his long, leafy tail.

"No sir, not today," Flameslinger side-stepped and avoided a face-plant, and smirked.

Camo mumbled something under his breath and spoke. "Wouldn't sleep near the tree if I were you. Rider's determined to be an anxiety wreck and Spyro and Cynder have been trying to cheer each other up on Scarlett and Polarity's grave," the leaf dragon said. "Weird, really."

"Your face is weird," Flameslinger said, walking around to the backside of the tree. Camo really irritated him. The leaf dragon was often quite rude about any sort of joke he made, and didn't even attempt to try and cheer anybody up but himself. He left the Tree of Life and went to look for somewhere else to crash.

There were some great apple trees that had grown near the brambles two years ago, when Ben and Sheila first found them, but there was one problem. They were right beside the brambles, where Thor was talking to himself. Flameslinger stopped to listen. He had never seen anything so peculiar!

"...he's taken everything from me and now I am stuck here where nobody accepts and there is a dark place, yes, I do know that is what you want me to do, but sir, I cannot do it… No I will not, sire, that is not how it will-no, they are not eggs… Butter on them? What are you, crazy? Yes, insomnia is bad…. Oy, don't get me started… Trolls in Perilous Pastures? Unheard of! New Portal Masters? Quite strange… Ace, how you have changed!"

Flameslinger stared at the feathered dragon. He was curled into a tight ball, but from what Flameslinger could make out with Thor's heat energy was that the dragon's eyes were dilated, and he was hot and sweaty. He sounded as though he was talking to somebody, but Flameslinger did not know who. But nothing he was saying was making any relevant sense, and when he suddenly jumped up and yelled, Flameslinger knew something was definitely wrong.

"NO! You are wrong! No, sir, Octavius Cloptimus is not a Molekin… Why, milady, that is quite a fancy name you have there… These are feathers, not fur…. Unicorns do too, exist! Whirlwind is half unicorn! Whenever you take a leprechaun's gold, it turns to mold… Oh, I say-hey, that is my tail!" Thor whipped around and was nose-to-nose with Flashwing. The gem-studded dragoness slashed his nose with her crystalic claws, and Flameslinger bit back laughter.

"Will you shut up? You've been over here blabbering nonsense for hours!" She exclaimed. Flameslinger had to admit, Thor sounded as though he was on some drug. Maybe he did have schizophrenia.

"Nonsense? No, milady, nonsense, not one cents… Clouds are not evil, Ermit, no, they are not…. Flynn, 'Boom!' is an incomplete sentence… Flashwing, when did you get here!" Thor suddenly jumped and then cowered beneath her, shivering in fright.

"Did it take a second for the pain to reach that tiny brain of yours?" She sneered. "I said, shut up! You're blabbering nonsense, and have been all day! If I didn't know better, I'd say you were schizophrenic!"

"I am not sociopathic… Malefor has taken over the Dragon Realms, and Hex was captured… Cynder was rescued by Spyro… Vathek is dead, Deu Sol now rules Dragon's Peak… Ramses and Flavius are lost in the Blue Storm… Strange flower, Damsel… No, I wanted cold, not warm…" Thor continued saying various different, nonsensical things to himself, his eyes glazing over. He paid no attention to Flashwing when she snapped her claws in his face.

Flameslinger made no comment and made his way over to the apple trees. That was strange. Thor was never normal, but he had never been astronomically abnormal either. Flameslinger shot an arrow at one of the apples and it fell to his feet. He picked it up and bit into it, flopping lazily down into the crook between two branches of the tree.

Flameslinger thought of Cynder's being pregnant. He snorted and took another bite of the apple. _First off, 'ow did 'zey bone each o'zer wi'z all of us around? Second off-'OW DID 'ZEY BONE WI'Z ALL OF US AROUND?_ He thought, shaking his head. "Well, it certainly couldn't 'ave 'appened last night, because we would all 'ave noticed and it'd be waaaay too early. Well, 'zere was 'zat mission where 'e and Cynder flew off to fight 'ze ice ogres…" He shook his head, and sighed. "Makes no sense-GOOD EON!" Stealth Elf poked him in the shoulder, and he practically jumped ten feet into the air. He bumped his head on one of the branches and fell down.

Stealth Elf burst into a fit of laughter as he got up and dusted himself off. "'Ardy, 'ar, 'ar," Flameslinger stuck his tongue out at her.

"Well, you need to stop talking to yourself so much, or else people will start to think you're Rider," Stealth Elf joked.

"I heard that!" The dark elf shouted from the side of the Tree of Life.

"Do us all a favor and stuff your ears under your helmet!" Stealth Elf hollered at him. Rider contemptuously glared at her before taking a swig of whatever was in that canteen of his. Flameslinger had no way of knowing just what it was, but rumors had been going around it was alcohol. He brushed them off as having been started by Flashwing or Jade.

"It's starting to get darker out," Stealth Elf commented.

"It is?" Flameslinger couldn't tell that, either. He had learned to listen to other Skylanders to figure out when it was getting darker or not. He would never ask, because the normal retort he always got would be 'take off that blindfold!' which he did not want to hear.

Stealth Elf leaned against his shoulder. "I really wish you'd take that dumb blindfold off," she told him. "Kinda hard to have one of those cliche romantic movie moments where the couple looks at the stars." She said sourly.

"And is 'zere a reason you'd like to 'ave one of said cliche moments?" Flameslinger teased her.

"And here you go, being a clown again," Stealth Elf said in an amused tone.

"Steal'z Elf, if I was a clown, I'd 'ave a big red nose and colorful 'air," Flameslinger told her, fiddling with her hair.

"All you have to do is dye that mop on your head, you'd make a perfect clown," she teased him, slipping her arm around his waist.

"I said leave me alone!" Flameslinger and Stealth Elf both jumped away from one another, looking for the source of the noise. Flameslinger identified the voice as being similar to Thor's, but couldn't tell for sure. He singled out the dragon's fire signature by calming himself and sending out a pulse of his senses…

Around the brambles, Jade and Kaz were sleeping. Thor was standing up and pacing around the brambles, inside of the force-field. His face was burning hot and he appeared to be pacing from anxiety to Flameslinger, due to the fact that his flame signature seemed oddly jumpy-the orange outline Flameslinger saw as Thor had a fuzzy orange outline, rather than just a straight, regular one.

"What are you talking about?" Jade groggily raised her head to look at the air dragon.

"The Skylanders are one! The traitor is not here! The children are playing! Leave me alone!" Thor yelled. He spread his wings and flattened himself to the ground, using his front paws to cover his ears. He flicked his tail from side to side, looking irritated and flustered as well as anxious all at the same time. "No, I will not! I do not listen to people like you! I don't know who you are!" Thor snarled.

Flameslinger picked up Spyro's fire energy from just a few feet away from Thor. The magic dragon crept closer to Thor. "Thor…?" He asked gently.

The air dragon made no notice of him. "Oddly enough, no! Albeit small… They are all here… Eon is dead! The Core was shattered!" Thor began bleating like a scared sheep. Flameslinger screwed his face up in confusion. All of that had happened two years ago! "The elf princess has vanished, we have no idea where she is. Yes, they still look for her every day and are still offering a ten thousand reward in gold. The ice queen was stolen today! Chill was booted from her duty as guardian! You take that back!" Thor continued uttering random events that had occurred in Skylands years ago.

The elf queen had a child fifteen years ago, but she was stolen two months after she had been born. She had never been found, and every day on November thirteenth, they'd release thousands of butterflies to celebrate her birthday. Odd, because it was also Stealth Elf's birthday. Flameslinger had always thought the elf princess that was stolen had likely been killed soon after being abducted. A terrible thought, but there are some sick people in Skylands…

As for when Chill was booted as a guardian of the ice queen, that had happened only a year before, and only a few weeks before she was recruited as a Skylander and turned to a figure frozen on Earth.

You see, when Chill, Hot Dog, Fright Rider, Shroomboom, Jet-Vac, Flashwing, Pop Fizz, and Sprocket had all been recruited, they were unlike the regular Skylanders-they still had free reign in Skylands since they had not been frozen yet. But they had to be on the constant move, away from the Darkness, and avoiding anything related to Kaos in general. But as all, they eventually all fell victim to the Darkness or Kaos' determination to punish the Skylanders further for defeating him once again.

Flameslinger shook his head, clearing his thoughts. He was getting sidetracked. Thor was uttering even more nonsense now, and Spyro looked disturbed by what he was hearing. Flameslinger soon understood why.

"No, Ace… I cannot and will not do that… Why, she hasn't done…? Fine, I will!" Thor proceeded to jump onto a bramble bush and shove it to the ground, scratching himself to pieces in the process. However, he did not seem to notice.

"Thor, Thor, stop!" Spyro grabbed the feathered dragon by the thick collar of long, silky feathers around his neck, dragging him off the spiked plant. Thor's feet were littered in scratches from trying to attack the bush, and he was bleeding badly. Flameslinger could see within Thor's fire signature that his eyes were dilated, as they looked slightly hotter than the rest of his body. The air dragon was also breathing heavily.

Spyro held him down and tried to talk with him again. "Thor, what are you going on about?"

Thor did not respond immediately. He began chanting under his breath, "The storm is coming, the storm is coming, the storm is coming! The storm is coming, the storm is coming, the storm is coming!"

"That's it. I think it's canon that he is insane," Flashwing said from behind Spyro, staring at the air dragon beneath his claws.

Spyro shook Thor with his front paws, speaking even louder. "THOR! What is wrong?"

"Wha-Spyro!" Thor suddenly began to struggle violently, kicking and thrashing. He began to hyperventilate and his blows became much stronger. He kicked Spyro off him and darted to the edge of the island, still panting.

"Stay away from him!" Whirlwind exclaimed, running over to Spyro. "Panic attack," she gasped. "You scared the living daylights out of him."

"But why didn't he notice me until now? He's been staring at me the whole time!" Spyro exclaimed frustratedly.

"Because if I didn't know better, I'd say he was schizophrenic," Whirlwind murmured. "But not even schizophrenic people act as violently as this, and besides, we would have seen signs of it way earlier than this."

"In o'zer words, 'e's just insane," Flameslinger said bluntly.

"Sounds about right," Stealth Elf murmured from next to him.

"So, he's having a panic attack? Go help him, then!" Spyro said, sounding shocked.

Whirlwind sat on her back paws and looked away pointedly. "I don't see why. Let him suffer. No better than-"

"Whirlwind, not even he deserves this and you know it. Part of being a hero is showing mercy," Spyro said with conviction in his voice. "Please help him."

She grumbled something under her breath, and walked over to the struggling air dragon. He sounded like he was still breathing fast and rapidly. She rubbed his back with her tail and murmured reassuring words to him, but Thor did not seem to hear. He continued staring off into the distance.

Whirlwind nudged him and he rounded on her, pinning her to the ground and scratching her nose. He jumped off of her right after and curled up close to a bush. "Oh, Eon forgive me! He's telling me to! I keep telling him to leave me alone, but he doesn't listen!"

Spyro moved towards Thor, and imitated Eon's voice as best he could-which sounded pretty accurate to Flameslinger. "Thor, could you remind me of what you are talking about?" Spyro coughed afterwards.

Thor only looked at him vaguely. "Eon?"

Whirlwind moved over to beside Spyro. "He's gone nuts!"

Spyro pushed her away gently and cleared his throat, imitating Eon again. "Yes, Thor."

"He keeps bothering me! He won't leave me be! He wants me to hurt them! But I don't want to! I want to be part of them, and I don't want to be an outsider any longer!" Thor wailed.

Spyro backed up from Thor slightly, but continued to imitate Eon. "Who was it again, Thor?"

"I don't know! He won't say his name! He just calls himself 'Magic Dragon'!" Thor sobbed, putting his face in his paws.

Spyro groaned and shook his head, and stopped speaking like Eon. "Anybody have any clue what he's talking about?" Spyro asked.

"Eon? Eon?!" Thor jumped to his feet and looked around. Flameslinger shook his head slowly in astonishment at the scene.

"'Zor really 'AS gone insane," Flameslinger muttered.

"Wasn't he insane when he got here?" Stealth Elf scoffed.

"No, just scared to dea'z for 'is life, now 'e's just plain crazy," Flameslinger answered her.

"He's gone again!" Thor wailed louder. Whirlwind lashed her tail and hit him in the face, scoring a deep scratch beneath his left eye. Thor yelped and recoiled, his feathers ruffling and bristling. But he blinked several times and spoke in a less panicky tone. In fact, now he sounded just confused why everyone was staring at him!

"Spyro? Whirlwind-what's going on? I didn't do anything, I swear," Thor said, moving away from them. His paw slipped on the edge of the island and he stopped moving. "I swear!" He repeated.

"You were yelling the stupidest crap I've ever heard all day," Flashwing snorted.

"What…?" Thor looked dumbfounded. "I… don't remember anything from today…"

"So now he's forgot? You know what, I give up," Flameslinger threw his hands into the air and jumped up, taking another bite out of the apple before throwing it to the ground. "Somebody's got to cheer all 'zese depressing bums up," he said, jumping onto the side of the Core of Light.

Many turned their attention to him, and Spyro just shook his head, leaving Thor to watch them. He turned to Flameslinger and looked at him. "Flameslinger, what are you doing?"

"Trying to be cheerful, because 'ze rest of you can't seem to do 'zat anymore," Flameslinger said. He then crossed his arms. "You guys wouldn't know a good time if it hit you in 'ze back of 'ze head. Al'zough, I must ask, Spyro, how in _Skylands _did you manage to get Cynder pregnant being a Skylander, and being trapped in toy form on Ear'z?" Flameslinger looked at the purple dragon and it took everything he had not to laugh at the blush that crept across his face.

"Uh… uh…" Spyro laughed nervously. "Uh…"

"Bah, never mind. Chill!" He called out.

The ice warrior looked up at him. "What do you want, Blindsight?"

"What's 'ze regular temperature of a 'Zaumaturge? Below zero or cold as 'ell?" Flameslinger asked. No laughs met his mediocre attempt at a joke. "Well, you could all at least pretend it was funny," he stuck his tongue out at the crowd beneath him.

"It wasn't funny enough," Cynder said, giving a fake 'boo'.

"So, names yet?" Flameslinger asked Cynder. "Come on, 'vou 'ave to 'ave some names on 'vour mind. Spynder? Cyro? No? Well, 'zen…"

Cynder and Spyro exchanged a glance and Flameslinger continued. "Euh, Chill, I 'zink I asked 'vou a question, if I am not mistaken."

"Twenty eight degrees below get your tail off t'at Core or I'll blast you off it, you lame excuse for a comedian," she smirked at him.

Flameslinger smiled. If she was willing to make even a crack at a joke, he had succeeded! "Do 'vou all know what I 'zink about music? It is so overrated. 'Ze air guitar is much, much better, probably 'ze best instrument in 'ze world," Flameslinger said, pulling out his bow, pretending to strum it like a guitar. "See? No sound, so no'zing to boo at."

"I've got plenty to boo at," Stealth Elf pushed him over. "You're a terrible comedian," she told him.

"I don't get 'zat joke," Flameslinger responded, scratching his head.

"Knock knock," Stealth Elf said.

"Who's 'zere?" Flameslinger asked naively.

"Ass," she giggled.

"Ass? 'Zat's certainly a strange name… I feel sorry for you already, al'zough I cannot see 'vou. 'Vou must have a large buttock or some'zing," Flameslinger commented with a straight face, earning laughs from Camo and Sunburn.

"Ass in the water!" Stealth Elf threw Flameslinger onto the Core, and his butt landed in the puddle of water that surrounded the main machinery of the Core of Light.

"'Zat was not funny!" Flameslinger exclaimed, jumping up. He looked as though he'd peed himself. "'Zat was about as funny as watching Pop Fizz transform."

"Which is disgusting," Wrecking Ball said.

"I rest my case," Flameslinger crossed his arms and stuck his tongue out at Stealth Elf.

"You two are some lame ass comedians! Get off that stage, geez, or I'll hit you with melons! Move over!" Camo shoved him and Stealth Elf off the Core of Light. "And go get a change of pants on, wouldja? Nobody wants to see that," Camo pointed at Flameslinger's butt. Flameslinger tensed his arrow.

"I will use it," he said, "I will."

"Yeah, yeah, Cupid, go ahead. You're about as scary as a kitten," Camo scoffed. "Sunburn! Get your tail up here! Bright-colored dragon-phoenix hybrid can't even be bothered to get up and support his own friend when he's on stage, givin' stand-up come—Sunburn, get up here!" Camo lashed his tail in fake irritability.

Flameslinger grabbed Stealth Elf by the arm and led her away to the apple trees again. With Sunburn and Camo keeping everybody distracted with jokes (that actually made them laugh) he could finally talk about something that had been bothering him since Spyro had announced who was going with him to help find Ninjini and Sonic Boom.

She took a seat and they listened in on Camo and Sunburn for a few moments.

"You know something?" Camo said, pretending to scratch his head. "Spyro, you know that book series they published on you, right? "Spyro the Dragon"? Any of that true?"

Spyro rubbed his head and laughed nervously. "Y-yeah. It all happened after the fight with Malefor. Cynder left to go on her own journey and I sort of got accidentally pulled into the fight against Gnorc… And I reunited with Cynder shortly before arriving here, where Eon found me. Then Onk Beakman pestered me until I told him every last detail about my six adventures after defeating Malefor and he made them into an over-dramatized book series," Spyro said glumly, flicking his tail.

"Question: why do you hate water?" Camo asked him another question.

"Because I shoot fire," Spyro retorted.

"Then why not just shoot water?" Sunburn tilted his head.

"I can!" Spyro exclaimed.

"Then why don't you do it?" Camo asked, tilting his head as well.

"I… You know what, forget it, you two are impossible," Spyro lay down and covered his head with his paws.

"In other words, Spyro was the savior of the Dragon Realms for years and years and years and then he gets stuck in our dumpy Citadel, with us, our constant bickering, and knocks up his girlfriend," Sunburn said flatly.

"Sounds legit!" Camo yawned.

Flameslinger laughed. "At least I managed to get everybody in a good mood for once," he said. "Normally, everybody 'ere is determined to be as depressing as possible."

"You did a great job," Stealth Elf said, leaning against him and sighing deeply.

Flameslinger's voice turned soft. "Steal'z Elf?"

"Yes, Flameslinger?" She asked him.

"'Vou will be careful tomorrow, right? 'Vou know how Ninjini can be… and she was pretty mad yesterday, no telling what she'll be willing to do to stay away from 'ze Citadel… Just be careful," he told her in a worried tone, biting his lower lip.

"Don't worry, I'll be just fine," Stealth Elf jumped off the branch next to him and did a ninja front-flip in front of him. "In case you didn't notice, I can take her. I'm a ninja, or can't you tell?" She teased.

"Of course I can tell," Flameslinger said, pretending to be offended. "What, do 'vou 'zink I'm blind or some'zing?"

"Not a chance," she laughed, sitting next to him again.

* * *

"Will you just get to the point? What do you want me to do?" Kaz growled, flicking his tail. Why did they always do this to him? Tell him he had to do something, then completely change the subject? "It's kind of hard to do my job if you won't tell me what it is."

"Pyro and Blaze will handle Sunburn. It's Ninjini and Sonic Boom we're worried about. If they're not with the Skylanders, they're off somewhere else. They can cause trouble for us, especially you, and considering you're the most important part of the plan, we can't have that…"

"So, what then? Kill them?" Kaz grinned sinisterly. "Oh, and Cynder's knocked up. Wonder what would happen if her kids just happened to die soon after they were born…"

"Kaz, He wants you to leave the children alone. Why I'll never know, but do as He says."

"And what about Thor? I was never told, does he really know anything about the actual plan or is he telling the Skylanders the truth?" Kaz asked, his black hair bobbing.

"Thor was never told the names of any of the other dragons. He was told, and quote, 'There are seven others. They will fight the Skylanders after you and Ace. Understand?' That's literally all he was told. In other words, he's telling the truth and the Skylanders don't know."

Kaz smirked. "The Skylanders are practically tearing themselves apart. I find it quite amusing, to be honest with you."

"Don't get too comfortable. Goodbye, Kaz, talk to you tom—"

"Kaz? Kaz, where are you?" Jade's voice rang out.

Kaz's heart skipped a beat and he swung his tail through the holographic image of the violet dragoness he had been talking to. Her image vanished just as Jade broke through the trees.

"Kaz?" She tilted her head. "What're you doing back here?"

Kaz gulped. Something inside him made him slightly squeamish around Jade, as though she overpowered him in a way… Usually, the code was if one of the Skylanders found him out, he'd have to kill them… He bit his tongue. Kill Jade? He couldn't! He didn't understand why, but taking out Scarlett was easy… And attempting to kill Chill, Gill Grunt, and Trigger Happy hadn't made him feel like this.

"Hello?" Jade waved a paw in front of his face. "Can you hear me?"

"Yeah, yeah, sorry," Kaz ducked his head and got low to the ground. He hated having to do it, but he had to act scared and jumpy most of the time in order to keep in-character with the Kaz the Skylanders knew. Sometimes he would forget, and it gave him confused stares from some of the other Skylanders. He was already on thin ice thanks to Ninjini and Gill Grunt; if things continued to go the way they were, Gill Grunt would have to be eliminated as well as Ninjini and Sonic Boom…

"Come on," Jade batted her eyelashes and him and led him out of the trees.

Kaz smiled at her and followed her.

* * *

***Gasps* so Kaz may actually have a heart after all. We'll find out later on, I guess. Also, the part where Thor says "Whirlwind is half unicorn!" While blabbing nonsense, is a joke at the Tall Tales trailer where Tree Rex and Slam Bam seem to mysteriously forget that unicorns exist and just make fun of them. -.- That was a fail for the Skylanders producers team. **

**Well then, I know the jokes are corny as hell, that's basically what Flameslinger's meant to be. And most of it came to me while I sat down and fiddled with my coat string, so don't judge meeeee! *runs away and then comes back* Oh, and Seraph of Enigma, that review was priceless, I have absolutely no problem with it considering I did bump up the rating. Rule 34. *laughs***

**So, review, favorite, follow, or if you already have, review and... I dunno. Wait for the next chapter. Think about what Kaz meant. Meh. You know. The usual stuff.**

**And kill me now for doing so, but I got this irresistible urge to write about Chill's history. It's called "Snow Quest" and was put up last night.**


	18. Query and Quota

_**Query and Quota**_

_**Warning: Kaz's POV is quite bloody and gory. Not sure what you guys consider sickening, but considering who he does it to, I kinda wanted to go sulk in a corner for two hours after writing it. =|**_

* * *

Ninjini whirled around the tree, slashing a deep score all around its base. Panting, she allowed her wishblades to vanish. She stood still and watched the tree carefully. It had deep slashes and cuts all over it from where she'd been using it as a carving board all morning. It gave one last tremor and then flopped on its side, causing the ground to rattle.

Ninjini allowed her thoughts to wander ahead of her. The entire time, she glared at the tree, as though to blame it for all the troubles she had had to face lately. With her mind so immersed in her thoughts, she did not notice her telepathic powers were causing the tree to be practically squashed into the ground.

The events of _that _day replayed in her mind. _That _day when her life had been turned upside down. _That _day when she had lost all the respect she had ever had for Spyro. _That _day when she realized just who Kaz really was.

_Ninjini was inside her bottle, leaning against the side of it. She tried to stay awake with her sister, Scarlett, barely alive and in pain beside her, but she couldn't. She fell asleep about an hour and a half later._

_ Many hours later, Ninjini awoke and realized, with horror, that she had fallen asleep. She immediately burst from her bottle and began to probe Scarlett's mind and feelings. There wasn't anything… Nothing… Cold emptiness…_

_ Ninjini touched her sister's arm and squealed. "She's dead! She's dead!"_

Ninjini had thrown the tree across the island using telepathy in her blind rage. The dark sky made it look as though it were an oversized spear being thrown through the air.

Ninjini had no idea where she was. As long as she was away from Spyro and Kaz, she didn't care. Did they not realize what he could do? Kaz was a magic dragon, she could sense it! He had all sorts of insane powers!

And then there was Spyro. Ninjini clenched her jaw and balled her fists so tightly that her fingernails dug into her skin. He had allowed Kaz to stay. He had allowed Kaz free reign. He had refused to listen to her warning. He had downright _refused. _Now, her sister was dead because of it.

And then Swarm… Ninjini had always felt she could be herself around him, and he might contradict what she said, but he never directly tried to change her mind about anything. He had always seen the world a bit from her angle… But he too could not see Kaz's treachery. Ninjini ground her teeth. She had always felt like she could count on Swarm, but apparently, she could count on nobody anymore.

She glared up at the darkening sky and shouted into it, "So, is this what you want to happen, Scarlett? Me to be an outcast? Disrespected and uncared for?" She spat. She, of course, got no answer. She snorted as she spoke again, her eyes beginning to tear up. "Of course you wouldn't answer. You moved on. I thought you would have at least said something before going!" Ninjini glared at the ground and said, "_Vade minor,_" and the smoke around her legs vanished.

She stomped over to some other trees, her dress trailing behind her in the grass. She huffed and took a seat next to the large tree. "It's quite obvious… Why did I never realize it before…? Everyone is out to get me. I should have realized it before now…"

* * *

Kaz squirmed a bit from where he lay next to Jade. The green-gem-studded dragoness was asleep at his side, close to the brambles. It was night; the Citadel was dark and everybody was sleeping.

Or so he thought.

Kaz carefully got to his feet, jumping over Flashwing and Dino-Rang. He whipped around to make sure nobody had looked up at him. While he was still at the Citadel, he could simply say he had gone to get something or use the bathroom or something similar…

One set of aqua-blue eyes stared at him from the brambles. Kaz bared his teeth. _Thor! That insane fool will ruin all the plans He has set! _Kaz knew Thor did not need to be killed… in fact, he was rather a great decoy due to his actions lately—blabbering nonsense, attacking bushes—but if he saw Kaz leave the Citadel, he would tell Spyro or the other Skylanders. And Kaz had a feeling he wasn't just blabbing nonsense—that somebody was indeed telling Thor to say things.

Kaz had a choice. He could leave Thor alone and hope that his recent bout of insanity kept him from revealing anything, or he could attack Thor to keep him quiet, which would more than likely lead to the case that if he didn't kill Thor, the air dragon would tell somebody Kaz had attacked him.

Thor wasn't important. He knew nothing of the main plot to end the Skylanders and purge Skylands of all its residents other than dragons and some other specific purebreds, and his partner, Ace, was practically the laughing stock of Dragon's Peak. The only reason Ace even stayed there anymore was because he was too 'loyal' to be gotten rid of.

Kaz rolled his eyes. Ace may be loyal, but he wasn't an asset. With his wings torn and ripped, he can't use any except his air breath attacks, which made him useless. Kaz turned his eyes on Thor again. The air dragon was still watching him.

Kaz licked his lips and smiled, revealing long canine teeth. If Thor wanted something to do with him… he'd get it.

Kaz practically slithered over to him, his black hair bobbing around his lavender-colored horns. He came to a stop at the brambles, and snorted scornfully at Thor.

He was curled up in a ball, his eyes locked on Kaz. "I know you're one of them," he said. "There's no doubt about it. I know it was you who killed Scarlett."

"And that you'd be right about, you filthy hybrid," Kaz spat. Thor was a griffin and dragon hybrid. You could tell just by looking at him. He had long, feathered wings that were darker blue than the rest of his body, and his tail even ended in a tuft of dark blue fur that just screamed griffin. The main color of his body was a pale, sky-blue color though, and his eyes were aquamarine colored. "You're also a traitor. You're trying to help the Skylanders."

"Why would I keep helping you guys? You all left me for dead! If it weren't for Eon, Spyro would have surely killed me that day, and Eon knows how many times somebody's walked up to me and hurt me here!" Thor began to wail, but Kaz, alarmed, dashed toward him and clasped his jaw around Thor's mouth, forcing it shut.

The air dragon scrabbled at him with his claws, scraping his scales. Kaz was irritated with him now, and he had already attacked Thor, so now he would have to kill him.

He smiled sinisterly as he dug his teeth even further into Thor's skin, before pressing on his chest and ripping his teeth off Thor's jaw, leaving a long gash on his mouth. Feathers, bits of skin, and blood flew everywhere. Thor was only barely managing to hold back a wail of torture, Kaz knew.

And he liked it.

Kaz pinned Thor to the ground and sank his teeth into the ring of long, silky feathers around his neck, digging his claws into his legs. "Say a word…" Kaz threatened. "And I'll kill Cynder in her sleep. She'll die and Spyro will lose his kids. Wonder how the mighty Skylanders would feel after that…"

Kaz knew that he couldn't do that truly, no matter how much he wanted to. It would blow his cover way too soon. But Thor didn't know that. His bluff should hold water.

Thor had tears coming from the corners of his eyes, but he made no sound. He nodded. "Fine… do what you will with me… But know that the Skylanders will prevail…" He whispered.

Kaz's eyes flashed, the violent, red-pink color shining like a drop of blood. He took off into the air, Thor still clenched in his jaws. He only smiled as he screeched in pain as Kaz's teeth continued to sink further into his skin. Kaz knew that Spyro would be awakened, thanks to Ninjini's force field around the brambles, but Kaz already had a lie beginning to formulate in his mind.

Kaz looked around. It was at least twelve at night. The Jet Winds would not pick up until tomorrow at noon, and it was pitch black. He soon spotted a small, deserted island and landed, throwing Thor to the ground.

Thor's neck was stained pink with his own blood. Kaz could taste it on his teeth. Mmm… quite good, really…

Thor staggered to his feet, tears still coming from his eyes. "What do you want with me?"

"I have to kill you now or else you'll tell the Skylanders all about our little skirmish," Kaz said, keeping his teeth visible the entire time, some of Thor's own blood still visible. "And don't even try to talk me into believing you won't breathe a word. I'm not stupid, unlike you, you nonsensical fool."

Thor cowered to the ground, holding his paws over his head. "Can you at least make it quick?"

Kaz grinned, if possible, even larger. He was pretty much begging for mercy. Kaz ruthlessly unsheathed his claws. "Afraid not. You see, my job is, manipulate and assassinate. I have to have some fun with it, don't I? Otherwise, it gets boring, you know, the killing and torture…"

Thor's eyes went wide in horror. "Y-you're demented! I-isane!"

"That I am," Kaz nodded in agreement. He flashed his eyes at Thor again. "And very proud of it." He launched himself at Thor and dug his claws into his sides, hissing in his face. "How would you like me to do the same to Cynder? Or Spyro?" He bit onto the darker blue feathers on Thor's head and plucked them off one by one.

Thor screamed in agony the entire time, kicking and batting at Kaz. He did not respond verbally. Kaz dug his four inch claws deeper into Thor's sides. "I'm talking to you, fool!"

Thor opened his jaws and began firing blasts of air. "You leave them alone!" He snarled in a cracked voice.

Kaz swiftly moved his head, his hair being the only thing caught in the air blasts, tearing some strands out of his hair. Kaz then turned to Thor. "You shouldn't have done that…" Kaz attempted to dig his claws in even deeper, and laughed as his toes began to enter Thor's flesh, his claws touching bone.

"Get off me!" Thor screeched, lashing out his front claws and attempted to bite Kaz's leg. Kaz ripped out his left paw from Thor's left side, spraying blood and some flesh on the ground and a nearby tree. He slapped the air dragon in the face, leaving a bloody imprint on it.

"Shut up and take it, bitch!" He roared. Thor had tears coming from his eyes in an even thicker stream now. Thor only weakly kicked Kaz this time, blood still coming from his wounds. Kaz put his paw to his mouth and licked Thor's blood from it, cleaning it off completely. He ripped out his other paw from Thor's right side, and cherished the scream of agony that followed the action.

Kaz was not shocked by what he saw. He had seen enemies in much worse states than Thor was in. Thor had large holes from where Kaz had dug in his paws into his sides, blood pouring out of them like faucets. Some of Thor's flesh had also been torn out when Kaz had pulled his paws from the air dragon's sides.

"Aw, don't die on me just yet," Kaz pretended to whine as he circled Thor, purposely making sure to step in the puddles of blood around him and to drag his tail through the blood. Thor's eyes were only half open, but he continued to utter tortured hollers every now and again.

Kaz got tired of the games and raised his back paw, slashing it across Thor's face and slamming his muzzle into the ground. Thor screamed again, but got to his feet. He glared at Kaz and released several growls before his legs buckled and he fell to the ground. He groaned in his torment, and Kaz loved how more blood came from the fresh wounds on Thor's face.

Kaz grasped one of Thor's horns and pressed against his head, wrenching his horn out of place. He didn't rip it off; that would give Thor relief from the pain. Thor sobbed louder, weakly trying to slap Kaz away.

Kaz prowled around Thor again. He'd find a way to make this stupid, waste-of-space air dragon suffer…. Kaz jumed on top of him and sank his teeth into Thor's chest, tearing out chunks of feathers. Thor squealed and tried to kick him harder, but weak from what he had already endured, Thor did not succeed in knocking Kaz away.

Kaz spat out Thor's feathers and turned back to Thor's bare skin that was now showing in his chest. Blood was coming from where Kaz had ripped off some of his skin, and Kaz wondered… He dug his claws into Thor's skin and sank them deep. Thor cried out at the top of his lungs and managed to get a blow in on Kaz's face, scratching him below the eye.

Kaz wrenched his claws out of Thor's chest and bit down on his skin instead, tearing away a chunk of it. He then spat it out.

Kaz moved away from Thor, lying down near a bush a few feet away. He would leave Thor like that for a while, to let the pain truly sink in. Until Thor was hoarse from screaming, he knew he was only feeling the adrenaline-pumped version of the torture he had just endured.

Once the adrenaline rush was over, it would be much, much worse.

Meanwhile, Kaz began to lick himself clean. His paws were coated in Thor's blood, as well as part of his tail. The metallic taste touched his tongue and he shivered in delight. He was used to the taste, and loved it. He hadn't tasted any since his fight with Scarlett, thanks to the fact that he had to stay in character with the Kaz the Skylanders knew and hide from the Pyrospawns that had attacked the Citadel earlier that day.

Thor continued to utter tormented moans. Kaz was only done cleaning his left paw, and about to clean his back paws, when Thor began to really scream. If he wasn't so close to bleeding to death, his moans may have been louder.

Kaz allowed Thor to writhe in the dirt for a few more moments. It'd be more interesting if Thor was driven on pain when Kaz eventually ended his needless suffering. Kaz, bored, turned to his back paws and began to lick them clean as well. What a salty, tangy taste… Quite good, no matter whom it came from.

Thor's cries were a mix between agony and sobbing. Kaz finished licking his back two paws clean before he got up. He yawned and stretched, blatantly showing his disregard for Thor's life.

Thor continued to lay there, his cries growing more pain-filled, but not increasing in volume. Kaz finally acknowledged him again by walking over to him and pressing his paw to the air dragon's throat.

"Beg for mercy, Thor," he sneered. "Beg for it. Beg. Beg your little heart out."

"Please… Leave me alone… I won't do anything… I swear…"

Kaz smirked. "Too late." He plunged his claws into Thor's throat, and then ripped them out, tearing out his throat. Blood sprayed in Kaz's face, but he made no notice of it. Thor's throat gurgled, bubbles in the blood, and his eyes rolled into his head. Kaz laughed at it. Laughed.

Thor's throat did not stop spurting blood for quite a few moments. Once it was done, Kaz kicked his body to the side and shook himself, spattering the blood that had wound up in his hair on the ground. "_Cute munda,_" he said in a breathy voice. He wouldn't have time to lick all the blood from him, and that spell would clean it off.

The red liquid rose off of his skin, hair, wings, and horns, and disappeared into thin air. Thor smiled back at Thor again. "Rot in hell, Thor. Don't drop the soap," he sneered, taking flight towards Raucous Ridge.

He had done well. Deu Sol would be pleased. Now he had just one more thing to do before he could return to the Citadel with his lie at the ready.

* * *

Ninjini awoke the next morning with her head throbbing. She hadn't slept until late last night, and under all the stress she had been under lately, she had been getting headaches a lot more often now.

It had to be at least halfway through the day by then. The sun was already high in the sky, which was bright blue.

"Ninjini!"

Ninjini's ears perked straight up and she clenched her fists. How DARE he come and try to find her! HOW DARE HE!

She whirled around and saw Spyro, Drobot, Whirlwind, Stealth Elf, Swarm, Sunburn, Jet-Vac, Hex, Flashwing, Jade, and Kaz landing on the island. Stealth Elf was riding on Swarm's back. Kaz looked extremely jumpy, squeaking in alarm when Jade accidentally rubbed against him.

But she knew better. She probed his feelings… She couldn't grasp anything from him but excitement, and for some reason, the color red kept flashing in her mind's eye. But something was peculiar about the shade of red that kept flashing in her mind… It was very bright and shimmered almost unnervingly.

"Ninjini," Spyro dipped his head. "We have come to ask you to rejoin the Skylanders. It's not safe for you out here, alone like this…. New dragons have come, fire dragons!" He looked up at her, his red eyes wide in alarm.

"And?" Ninjini asked icily.

"You're one of the giants, one of the advisors for us, and one of the strongest members of the Skylanders, please!" Ninjini was taken aback by Spyro suddenly begging at her feet. She normally would have loved to see him grovel like this, but something inside her made her despise it.

But her moment of clarity was snatched away from her as she laid her eyes on Kaz. She gritted her teeth. "Get rid of him first."

"Ninjini…" Spyro looked highly reluctant, but sighed. "You are the magic giant. Also, we found Kaz and Thor missing this morning. Kaz says Thor attacked him, but he only had an injury or two and some hair missing, and he has no idea where Thor is. If it suits you, I will temporarily keep him under watch…."

"If it suits me?" Ninjini smiled. "It does, but…" She was reluctant to return. Just because Kaz was 'under watch' would mean that he would still be able to move around. One moments' distraction could be disastrous…

"Please, we need you back, I'm not going to lie; the Skylanders have to stick together now more than ever. Please Ninjini?" Spyro looked at her intently.

Ninjini awed at him. Spyro had seemed so determined to continue to undermine her feelings about Kaz… But if he was at least willing to give her suspicions a chance, she felt no need to turn down his offer. Besides, he hadn't said _who _was going to watch Kaz… She wanted to smile sinisterly but didn't. She would _love _the chance to torture Kaz a bit…

"Someone's coming!" Stealth Elf suddenly called. "Through the trees!"

"How can you differentiate?" Drobot asked.

"Stop using words you can't use in context," Whirlwind rolled her eyes at him.

"Because I'm a Life elf, that's how," Stealth Elf answered.

Ninjini whipped around and brandished her swords. "Come out whoever you are!"

"You're all a lot smarter than you look," said a feminine voice with an accent like Sonic Boom's or Rider's. In fact, it sounded almost _exactly _like Sonic Boom's. Ninjini crossed her arms.

"Spyro, what is Sonic Boom talking about?" She asked.

"I don't know… Sonic Boom, come on, show yourself! I know you can't be that mad!" Spyro called.

"Mad about what?" Ninjini asked, confused.

"Sonic Boom had a bit of a fit yesterday, to say the least," Sunburn muttered.

Jet-Vac suddenly thrust Spyro and Ninjini out of the way. "Move!" He shouted. Suddenly, a sound like a nuclear bomb going off sounded, and the air around Jet-Vac became odd and distorted. He groaned as he fell on the ground, covering his ears.

"Hahaha," Ninjini was astonished when she saw Sonic Boom step out from behind two trees. Her eyes looked to be more narrowed than usual, and she wasn't wearing her helmet or anklets. But Ninjini could tell it was her by her wings, which ended in a cerulean blue color. Her ears were also flat against her head, and her shoulders rippled in an almost hunter-like fashion…

Jet-Vac staggered to his feet. "Sonic Boom, what is your problem?!" He demanded.

"Can it, you flightless bird!" She snarled, clicking her beak. "I'll send you flying through the sound barrier if you keep talking!"

"Where are Lionheart, Godspeed, Mayflower, and Storm?" Jet-Vac asked.

"Who knows? And who cares?" Sonic Boom snorted.

Ninjini clenched her swords tighter. This was _not _the Sonic Boom she knew. The Sonic Boom she knew would jump off a cliff rather than hurt or abandon her children. Ninjini twirled and slashed the air a few times, warning Sonic Boom. "I'm warning you, _Mum,_ back off or I'll turn you into a feathered Thanksgiving turkey," Ninjini spat, mocking how she said 'mom'.

"I could come up with a better line in my sleep!" Sunburn shot at her.

"Fine then, go ahead!" Ninjini glared at him for a moment, but then suddenly, she was pulled from Skylands with a whoosh, bang, and a loud popping noise.

Ninjini gasped for breath upon being placed back in her toy form at the back of the crowd. She shook her head. Were Ben and Sheila going to actually talk to them?

"They got some nerve!" Warnado exclaimed.

"I'd like to give 'at Sheila a piece o' me mind!" Dino-Rang shouted.

"Guys, quiet down!" Stealth Elf exclaimed irritably. "They're about to talk!"

Ben, looking rushed, looked all around the portals and Xbox for something. "I can't find Sonic Boom, Sheila!"

"Okay, well, Mom's only going to be gone for a few minutes, so we're going to have to do it without her!" Sheila exclaimed. She turned her green eyes to the Skylanders, her black hair looking a bit more unruly than usual.

"Look," she began. "Mom doesn't want us messing with you guys anymore. She's taken the broken portals and we have no idea where they're at. We haven't been able to tell you because she's kept us out of the Game Room in general. She says you guys are too dangerous for us. But we had to talk to you guys! We're so sorry! And has anything happened to Sonic Boom…? Spyro, answer when you're on the Portal. We'll be able to hear and see you, but you won't be able to see or hear us," Sheila picked up Spyro's frozen figure and placed him on the Portal.

Due to the angle Ninjini was at, she couldn't see the TV screen, but she could hear Spyro all the same.

"No. Sonic Boom's alive, but… she's been… changed. Corrupted. I don't know why she tried to hurt us, but when we left to find her and Ninjini—long story—she attacked us. And it's fine. This world _is _too dangerous for you guys… You'd be best to leave it to us. I'm sorry, Ben, and Sheila, but your mother is right. Listen to her. Take me off the Portal; we'll talk again sometime."

Sheila repeatedly opened her mouth to say something, but nothing came out. Ben just gaped stupidly at the screen. Sheila weakly picked up Spyro and put him back in the crowd of Skylander figures. "You're… you're sure? Fine… Come on, Ben, let's put them back on," Sheila murmured.

Ninjini wasn't surprised when nobody said anything before they were placed on the Portal. Ninjini honestly didn't care that Spyro had dissed Ben and Sheila. These two imposters for a Portal Master hadn't even noticed Polarity or Scarlett's death when they were murdered. They had just thought they had lost their figures. Yeah. Right.

Ninjini said her usual catchphrase when placed on the Portal, but that was all. "Any Last Wishes?"

She entered Skylands in a blast of light, back at the Citadel. Another setback from being frozen on Earth; the Portal of Power that Ben and Sheila possessed would automatically send you back to the Citadel. In this case, considering they had just been fighting with Sonic Boom, it would seem a good thing, but it could really be a pain at other times… Like when Molta and Hot Dog got pulled out before they could figure out who had gone down at Sapphire Isle.

Spyro practically roared in frustration. He jumped onto the Core of Light and called out. "Skylanders! It might be too late to take the fight to Pyro tonight, but we can do it tomorrow! Ninjini is back! Sonic Boom may have been corrupted, but we are still the Skylanders! No matter what happens, we will fight on! And Kaz!" Spyro narrowed his eyes at the small indigo-colored dragon. "You're now under watch. Brambles," Spyro growled.

Kaz opened and closed his jaws like Sheila had done moments earlier, no sound coming out. Ninjini glared at him and he squeaked and dashed over to the brambles surrounding the Far Viewer, curling up close to one of the bushes.

"As for Sonic Boom, we have to deal with Pyro and the ship that went down at Sapphire Isle first. Whatever's happened with her, we can sort out in a bit. The dragons are more important," Spyro told them.

"But what about her kids? Where are they?" Jet-Vac called up. His gun was trailing on the ground, his hands down at his sides. "We can't just forget about them! She said she doesn't know where they are or what's become of them!"

"Then all we can do is hope they escaped her," Spyro dipped his head. "But we haven't forgotten them. It's more dangerous for them if Pyro and Blaze are still out there. We take the fight to Sapphire Isle tomorrow—All Fired Up!" Spyro exclaimed, flying into the air and blowing flames behind him.

Multiple other catchphrases rang out after Spyro's, a flurry of light-hearted calls and chants. Ninjini, baffled, blinked. The last time she had seen everyone, they were depressed as hell about these dragons…. Whatever had happened, she was glad everybody was in a better mood.

"Ninjini?"

Ninjini jumped when Swarm called her name. She shook her head and looked at him. "Hi, Swarm…."

"No need to 'zank me, I know I am great at cheering people up, 'zanks," Ninjini glanced at Flameslinger as he passed them by. "Not going to comment? Okay, I'll just be on my way."

Ninjini just blinked at the blindfolded elf. "What was all that about?"

"Flameslinger tried to do a comedy show yesterday and 'e failed miserably. But 'zen Camo and Sunburn stole 'ze show and actually made some funny jokes. But while you were gone, we were also attacked by small fire dragons, and the dragon Spyro is referring to as Pyro is who we assume 'ze fire dragon's name is," Swarm caught her up. He shuffled his feet and sighed. "Are you still angry at Spyro?"

Ninjini couldn't answer directly. One half of her still wanted to slit his throat in the night, and the other half of her wanted to jump up and down and hug him to death for putting Kaz on thin ice. "I can't say," she answered vaguely.

He nodded. "Okay. But remember. 'E is our leader. 'E does 'is best. Now come on, I'm sure 'ze o'zer Giants want to see you back!" Swarm exclaimed happily.

Ninjini looked at him for a few seconds before nodding. Maybe he hadn't supported her with her idea against Kaz, but Spyro had been willing to put him on watch… At least now she would have an excuse to be nasty to him. "Sure," she replied.

* * *

**No comment... xD**


	19. Bluefire Pt, 1

_**Bluefire, Pt. 1**_

* * *

"We're lost!" Mayflower wailed.

"We are not!" Storm shot back at her. In truth, he was shaking beneath his feathers, but she didn't need to know that… None of them did. He continued to flap his tiny wings, beating them against the harsh winds of Skylands. He was panting in his exhaustion now. He sighed. "Come on, let's land for a bit."

He looked around and spotted an island with many trees and bushes. He dove down and landed, his legs buckling the moment he touched the ground.

Mayflower and Godspeed landed beside him, huddling together. Mayflower looked to be on the verge of tears and Godspeed was shaking like a leaf. Storm knew all too well why. Lionheart then practically fell out of the sky and on top of Storm.

Normally, the reaction would have been, "Watch where you're going, you stupid git!" But Storm didn't feel up to it. He merely allowed Lionheart to shift and right himself. Then, the black-feathered griffin leaned against him. "St-Storm? Where's mom and the Citadel? She said we would just have to keep flying, and that she'd catch up!"

Storm shut his eyes and the events of yesterday replayed in his mind.

"_Storm, Lionheart, Mayflower, Godspeed," Sonic Boom said urgently, curling her tail around her four children. She was on a ledge on the side of Raucous Ridge, the very same mountain where the wizard had cursed her and her young long ago. But now, her eyes were wide and her ears flat against her head, and her movements were oddly jerky and forced._

"_What's wrong, Mum?" Mayflower asked, tilting her head._

_Sonic Boom perked her ears suddenly. "Go, all of you! Get to the Citadel and don't stop until you get there! Go on, now! I'll catch up sometime later!" She lashed her tail at them, forcing them to take flight into the air. "You heard me! Get!"_

"_But why…?" Lionheart whispered._

"_Because I said so, now go!" Sonic Boom opened her jaws and nearly gave a roar that would be able to break the sound barrier. "GO!"_

"_Fine, we're going, we're going!" Storm called. He took off, far away from his mother._

_Sonic Boom watched them go and then flew over the peak of Raucous Ridge, sailing over to the other side of the mountain, which Storm could not see._

Storm shook his head, clearing his thoughts. Sonic Boom had just basically thrown them out… She said she would catch up… so why wasn't she there yet?

Storm growled and got to his feet. "I've got to go find some firewood or something. We have to stay warm, we might have to spend the night here," he said. Sonic Boom had often said that nights in Skylands were cold… He and his siblings had been flying for at least half the night… He went to walk in the northern direction.

He got a few feet, but then, he knocked into something. But there wasn't anything there! Storm tried to reach forward with his paws, but again, it was as though an invisible wall had dropped in on him from out of nowhere.

Then he saw why. A few feet away, a transparent figure sat. He was feathered, with a long ring of silky feathers around his neck. He appeared to have aqua-blue eyes and a sky-blue body with darker blue points on his feet, ring of feathers around his neck, feathered wings, mouth, and the feathers on the top of his head. Storm yelped and jumped away.

"Wh-who're you?!" He demanded.

The figure merely stood and shook his head, before bowing. His tail was long and skinny, ending with a dark blue tuft of fur. He went close to Storm and wrapped the young griffin up in his see-through wing. Storm gulped and felt as though he were paralyzed with fear. He couldn't move. He was frozen to the spot.

The figure then shot several blasts of what looked like air into the ground. When the dust cleared, a word was etched into the ground. Storm cocked his head. He couldn't read! "Erm, sorry, but I don't read yet…" He murmured, still feeling ghostly afraid of this… this… ghost...?

He mouthed something. Storm could make out a blatant 'or' sound from what he was mouthing, but the first part of whatever it was looked foreign to him. "What? Can't you talk?"

The dragon-looking creature shook his head. "No," he mouthed. Storm could make that out easily. Sonic Boom used to tell him and his siblings that all the time!

"—Or," he mouthed again. Suddenly, Storm noticed something strikingly familiar about the dragon. His horns were dark, cerulean blue and didn't have an abrupt ending where his feathers began at the base… Rather, his horns slowly changed from feathers to… whatever material horns were made out of…

"Thor?!" Storm squealed. He jumped away from the figure, his feathers spiking. "Back off! You're evil! Mum said so! She said you've killed a _Skylander _before!"

"Storm? What's going on?" Lionheart came racing towards him, Godspeed and Mayflower in tow. They stopped and gaped at Thor.

Thor closed his eyes and sank his claws into the ground, and then shook his head. "No," he mouthed again. "I am no–. I –s –ill– –y –az." Storm couldn't figure out much of anything he was mouthing after 'no'. It just looked like a mix of vowel sounds… But one thing was for certain, Thor was not to be trusted, dead or alive!

Storm zipped over to his siblings, bristling. Mayflower, Godspeed, and Lionheart did the same. "Back off, you big jerk!" Mayflower snarled.

Thor dipped his head and laid down, resting his head on his front paws. He didn't know what Thor wanted, but Storm wasn't about to let this evil dragon stop him and his siblings from getting home and getting firewood. He bolted forward, but his siblings stayed to watch Thor.

This time, he was able to go straight by Thor. He rounded a hedge of bushes. But he soon wished he hadn't. The image he came across would haunt him for as long as he lived.

Blood. Blood, guts, and everything else, all over the ground. The real Thor was lying, ripped apart, on the grass. One of his horns was positioned awkwardly, as though it had been yanked out of place. His upper jaw had a long gash going through it, and his face in general was scratched to pieces. The feathers on the top of his head were missing.

But what would really scar him were the gaping holes in Thor's sides where blood had pooled all beneath him, and dried into the grass, staining Thor's feathers permanently a reddish-violet color due to his naturally blue hue. Blood spray was all over the grass and Thor himself. Flesh was scattered across the grass as well.

Storm screamed and ran in the other direction, shoving his siblings back. "Don't go over there!" He shouted, tears forming at the edges of his eyes. There was no way he'd ever be able to forget that. Never. The blood and guts still stained his memory, like an ink stain on a white cloth.

Mayflower and Godspeed's eyes were wide in terror. "What did you see?" Mayflower asked, her voice barely audible.

Storm did not respond. He didn't know how he'd be able to. He didn't want her to see that… that… THING that had once been Thor!

Thor's spirit reappeared and the ghost paced in circles around them. He lay down, wrapping his wing around Storm. Storm didn't care whether Thor was evil or not; he was too preoccupied with the image of his torn apart corpse in his mind to even notice, really.

But Mayflower, Lionheart, and Godspeed had noticed. They ruffled their feathers and clicked their beaks in warning. "Get away from our brother!" Godspeed spat.

"I am no– go— to hur– –im," Thor mouthed. Storm wasn't paying much attention. Blood…. Blood everywhere….

Thor nudged him and pulled Storm even closer, wrapping his entire body around the small griffin. Storm didn't know how Thor was doing it, as he was transparent and looked like if you touched him you'd go through him, but he didn't spend much time thinking about it. He was happy he could lean on somebody for once.

Suddenly, a snarl sounded.

Storm looked over vaguely to see a shadowed figure facing them. "Even as a ghost you're a pain in the tail!" The voice snarled, sounding much like nails on a chalkboard. Storm whimpered and flattened his ears to his head. He was still too upset about what he had just seen to fight now… In fact, the image kept flashing in his mind, and it took everything within his power to keep himself from throwing up right on the spot.

The figure turned out to be a black dragon with dark violet eyes. His silver horns were gnarled and curled, and he was no larger than Sonic Boom or Thor. He then smiled at them. "No matter. The children can join their mother—on the dark side!" He opened his jaws, where a dark purple ball of light began to form.

Thor, quicker than a flash, raced over to him and pinned him to the ground, spitting several blasts of air at the dark dragon. "You will _NOT _touch –ese children!" Storm had no problem making out what Thor was mouthing there. "You will not touch these children". Thor put his claws to the dark dragon's chest, and Storm covered his face with his wings, beginning to cry.

He didn't want to see anymore! The blood, the violence, the horror… _Make it all stop! _He sobbed audibly. He peeked through the gaps between his wing's feathers and saw Thor back off the dark dragon. "GO!" He mouthed at it, his fangs visible.

"Fine! I don't want anything to do with the brats anyway! Pyro and Blaze will take care of them! You just wait and get back to the Citadel, you worthless pile—ah ha! Well… I can't let you get back to the Citadel, Thor," the dark dragon began to circle him like a hungry shark. "You'd simply give out far too much information about our plan… I wonder why you just can't be like Polarity or Scarlett and just leave life be. _Moriturae Iterum_!"

Thor would have given a loud wail if he could. He covered his face with his front paws and looked as though he were being electrocuted. Storm threw himself overtop Mayflower, Godspeed, and Lionheart so they would not see. Maybe he had been scarred for life by seeing Thor's lifeless body, but that didn't mean his siblings had to be.

Storm watched with tears trickling down his face as Thor, after his silent caterwauling, dropped to the ground, writhing. The black dragon sneered at him, "Have fun being trapped here, Thor! Looks like I can keep my claws clean today!" He then looked at Storm. "Ah, Storm… such a strong name for such a weakling… if you must tell the Skylanders about this, do tell them that Thor, even if he has chosen to stay behind in this world, cannot talk. Due to having killed others in his lifetime, he was given a chance to stay here or go to Hell… but he was punished even by staying here. Like I said, he can't talk."

Storm's eyes went wide again. "What is wrong with you all? Why do you all have to be so… so… _evil_?!"

"Because that's who we are!" The black dragon spat, taking flight into the air. He flew away.

Storm approached Thor, giving his siblings some room to finally see what had happened. Thor appeared no different… but he looked shaky, as though he couldn't stand upright. He turned and looked at Storm and the others.

"Go. To –e Ci—adel. Th—'re wait— for –ou," Thor mouthed the sentence to them, and Storm translated it to "Go, to the Citadel. They're waiting for you."

Storm shook his head, crying, "What about you?!"

Thor did not mouth anything. He flicked his tail and sat down, sighing deeply. He blinked and laid down, putting his head on his front paws.

Storm continued to cry. He looked down. This was horrible. Life was horrible… What had happened…? Life was fun; taking down Kaos was fun, but… but these guys… No… Thor's dead body flashed in his mind and he cowered to the ground, covering his face with his front paws.

"Come on, Storm," Mayflower nudged him to his feet, her yellow eyes shining. "We can do this. Mum would want us to, wouldn't she? Besides, Jet-Vac will be at the Citadel, won't he?"

Storm wanted to yell at her, to tell her what he had seen, but at the same time, he didn't want her to have to go through what he was going through. He wiped his face with his left paw and stood up, speaking with a watery voice. "Yeah… let's go."

Jet-Vac had started acting a lot like a father to them… While Storm knew Jet-Vac wasn't their dad, as they were pure griffin, he still acted strikingly similar to one…

"We're going home?" Godspeed asked hopefully, perking his ears.

Thor nodded. Lionheart tackled Godspeed to the ground, and the two brothers began to wrestle in the grass. Storm had to force himself to look away. He did not see how they could play like that…. Just, how…?

He spread his wings and jumped into the air. "See you later, Thor," he called softly so the others wouldn't hear him. Mayflower, Godspeed, and Lionheart joined him in the sky, and they flew far away, even if their wings hurt.

But the entire way home, Storm continued seeing Thor's dead body in his mind's eye… Whoever had done that…. They… they didn't have a heart… Not at all…

* * *

Kaz grumbled to himself as he paced back and forth within the brambles. Ninjini was talking with Swarm and Hot Head right outside the force field, but he knew better; she was just _waiting _for him to slip up.

Kaz flopped down and glared at the grass below him. He hadn't destroyed Thor's body last night… Maybe he should have… or maybe it didn't matter. With everybody so convinced Thor was evil, Kaz could defend himself by saying somebody else had probably attacked and killed Thor. After all, the dragons of Dragon's Peak saw Thor as a weakling who had lost to the Skylanders. It was possible that if any of them came across Thor after his 'attack' on Kaz, who was to say that they didn't kill him out of hate?

Kaz lashed his tail angrily as he decided he'd have to lay low for a while. He smiled. Cadaver had successfully corrupted Sonic Boom… The divide that would shake the Skylanders apart was only just beginning… The true horror of their plan was only starting…

* * *

Hot Head rolled his eyes at Swarm and bopped him on the head. When was the wasp going to get it that _all _the Giants already knew he had a crush on Ninjini but _himself?_ One second, the guy's saying something about the plan to attack Pyro at Sapphire Isle, and the next, he's complimenting Ninjini on her hairstyle (cough, cough, which is the same style every day, cough).

"When do we leave to fight 'ze dragons?" Swarm asked, glaring at Hot Head after getting hit on the head.

"You guys should be leaving in about ten minutes or so, as soon as Lover Boy manages to pull himself away from Cynder," Ninjini pointed a hitch-hiker's thumb at Spyro, who was fretting over Cynder like a mother over a new baby. Cynder looked thoroughly annoyed.

"I'm fine, I am going into this battle, whether you like it or not, and if you keep worrying over me like I'm fat and dilapidated, I'll claw the purple off your scales," she said, glaring at him.

"Okay, okay, okay," Spyro sighed and sat down a few inches away. "But come on, why—"

"Purple off the scales," she repeated, examining her claws in a bored fashion.

"Fine, fine," Spyro grumbled, moving away.

Swarm and Hot Head laughed. "What is it about her that can make him act like such a… fool?" Hot Head laughed.

"She's a girl, enough said," Swarm responded.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ninjini asked him, raising a brow.

His face flushed slightly red. "No'zing, no'zing at all."

"—cough, cough, liar, liar, pants on fire, cough cough—" Hot Head said sarcastically, pretending to cough into his fiery hands.

"If anyone's on fire 'ere, it's 'vou, 'Ot 'Ead," Swarm crossed his arms and looked at the fire giant, smirking.

"That's right, I'm on fire," Hot Head responded, sticking out his tongue.

Ninjini suddenly burst into a fit of giggles. Hot Head and Swarm looked over to her. Hot Head felt disturbed. "Since when did you laugh?" He asked her, blinking.

She glared at him. "Haha, hilarious. But this is really funny, look!" She pointed over to the Tree of Life, which was only about fifteen or so feet away from them. Spyro was trying to talk to Rider, but the dark elf wasn't making a single bit of sense.

"Rider, we have to fight Pyro today, remember?" Spyro asked him, looking annoyed, flicking his tail.

"But you're Spyro!" He exclaimed in a slurred voice. He tried to point at Spyro, but his hand was not pointing at the purple dragon, but rather two inches to the left of him.

"I said Pyro, not Spyro…" Spyro looked up at Rider, dumbfounded.

"What?" Rider asked him, getting to his feet and falling back down. "And why are there two of you… Oh wait… this is one of those brain games isn't it… Ha… funny…"

Spyro practically slapped himself in the face with the force of his face-palm. "No, Rider, we have—you know what, never mind, you're quite obviously drunk off your ass," he snapped, turning around and stomping away.

Hot Head found it hard to stifle laughter. "Mind games? What world does that guy live in?"

"Venus!" Rider suddenly shouted, as though answering Hot Head's question.

"Hahaha! Venus? Ain't 'at a planet or sumthin'?" Bouncer asked as he rolled over to Hot Head's side.

Hot Head had tears forming at the sides of his eyes from laughing so hard. "Yeah, it is!"

"Wait… or is it Jupiter… Maybe Mars… Bah, f*** it," Rider waved his hand through the air and took a few more swigs of his drink. Hot Head just continued to laugh at him, especially when Hex floated towards him.

"Come on Rider, up," she said.

"I'm up, coach? I'm really up? Where's the field then…?" Rider stumbled to his feet, looking around confusedly. "And where is the opposing team?"

"Rider, what on Skylands are you talking about? Come on, give me that," she groaned irritably as she reached for his canteen.

He slapped her hand. "Hey! Get your own!" He exclaimed.

"If I ever want to die from addiction, sure, I'll go get my own! But right now, you're giving me that!" She glared at him with her eyes glowing blue, and he pretty much froze rigid. She grabbed the canteen, and then released him.

He grabbed his spear off the ground and pointed it at her. "Cole, give me back my canteen!"

"Cole? Do I look like Cole to you?" Hex demanded.

"I said drop it, you git," Rider hiccupped, and thrust the spear forward. Hex veered away, but barely, and Rider tripped and cut his arm on the spear.

"S***! Man down," Rider groaned as he hit the ground.

Hot Head and Bouncer exchanged a shocked glance.

"That won't cool," Bouncer murmured.

"That wasn't cool at all," Hot Head muttered. In fact, that was shocking. Rider had been about to hurt Hex over a canteen… and ended up hurting himself. "Come on, let's help'em."

"Don't mess with them," Ninjini said simply.

Hot Head just looked at her. "He cut himself and nearly stabbed Hex! He's a dangerous idiot with that spear!"

"Let Hex handle it," Ninjini answered them quietly. Hot Head got the vibe that the conversation was over, but didn't want to just sit and watch… It wasn't funny anymore, it was scary….

Rider managed to snatch it out her hand. He drank some more and sat down.

"I'm just trying to help you, you jerk!" She shot at him.

"I'll drink it if I want to drink it!" Rider stuck his tongue out at her, and took a big gulp of the drink just to prove his point.

"Ouch…?" Swarm murmured.

"…Rider…" Hex shook her head and floated away towards Chop Chop and Ghost Roaster. She huffed and muttered something foreign before plopping down on the ground next to Chop Chop.

"Like I sai—" Hex cut Chop Chop off with an icy glare and push.

"Shut up," she growled.

"Enough, enough!" Spyro called from the Core of Light. Hot Head shared another shocked glance with Bouncer.

"And Spyro's not gonna do a thing about what just went down?" Bouncer asked.

"Guess not…" Hot Head responded, looking at Spyro. Normally, the dragon was the first to anything going down at his Citadel… Hot Head guessed he wasn't comfortable with solving any sort of problems like that…

The purple dragon was standing on the edge of the Core as usual. "Alright, if you have any way of flying at all, be it levitation, wings, jet-packs, whatever, you'll be flying there. As for the rest of you—Ninjini, can you help us?" He locked eyes with her.

Ninjini handed one of her wishblades to Swarm. "Just in case Kaz gets brave while I'm gone," she said in a mockingly sweet voice, throwing the indigo dragon a dark glare.

Kaz shrunk behind a bramble bush, curling his wings and tail close to him.

Swarm set the sword on the ground, rubbing his hand on his leg as though it had a disease. Hot Head raised a brow at him and Swarm huffily crossed his arms and defended himself, "'Ey, I do not like swords! I like 'and-to-'and combat, 'vou know 'zat."

It was true. Swarm mostly used physical attacks, either by using the sharp point on the ends of his hands or turning himself into a swarm of angry bees, Swarm preferred to fight head-to-head. He could shoot missile-like things from his hands, but he only used that as a last resort.

Ninjini floated in front of Spyro. "Yes?"

"I believe you have a spell that can temporarily grant teleportational powers, right?" Spyro asked.

"Right. I am a genie, Spyro," Ninjini told him. "Well, everyone, or—?"

She was cut off by Jet-Vac suddenly shouting. "Look! Sonic Boom's kids!"

Sure enough, the four baby griffins practically fell out of the sky as they landed. They looked exhausted. Jet-Vac ran over to them and examined them quickly from where they lay, close to Sonic Boom's old cavern. He picked up Storm, and the small griffin began murmuring things in a subconscious state.

Hot Head was horrified by what he heard.

"Raucous Ridge… Thor…. blood… gone…"

It sounded like words that could be formed into a horror story! Jet-Vac shook Storm a little bit.

"Storm, come on, ole' boy, wake up and talk to me," he said urgently.

Storm looked too tired to do much more of anything that just kind of sit there and continue muttering things under his breath. Whirlwind suddenly burst forward, looking irritated. "Put that griffin down, Jet-Vac! These children have flown way too much for one day! I'm surprised they didn't collapse from exhaustion in the sky!" She charged Jet-Vac slightly, threatening to hit him with her horn. He shot her a dangerous look before putting Storm back down and backing away.

Whirlwind walked over to the children and moved them next to each other, one by one. "They're at risk of hypothermia. It did get very cold this morning. And exhaustion can make it tougher for them. Spyro, a few others and I will have to stay behind; somebody has to watch them and we'll need protection just in case."

Spyro dipped his head. "Right…" He looked at Sonic Boom's kids and appeared to bite his lower lip. He whispered something to himself and then glanced at Cynder. After that he called out who he wanted to stay with Whirlwind. "Jet-Vac, Lightning Rod, Fright Rider, Wrecking Ball, Terrafin, Prism Break—all you guys stay here."

"Why do I gotta stay? I wanted to beat 'da fudge outta 'dat fire jack!" Terrafin exclaimed, looking as though he'd been scorned.

Wrecking Ball looked hurt. "But I wanted to help fight!"

Spyro blinked at him with worry on his face, but looked away. Hot Head didn't need to be Ninjini to know what he was feeling… Wrecking Ball, in short, was a bug. A little grub worm. Even with his magical powers, Blaze was likely to still beat the hell out of him, and who knows what the larger dragon, supposedly Pyro, would do…

"Stay where? Here? Okay!" Rider stumbled towards Terrafin and flopped down next to him, hitting his head on the ground. "Ow… this ice is so slippery…"

"I don't know him," Terrafin said, pointing a finger at the dark elf. "'Dat's clear, right?"

"Don't know who?" Rider asked confusedly, getting up and rubbing his head. He then looked back and forth.

"You!" Terrafin slapped him in the back of the head before muttering, "Dumbass…"

"I am not a dumbarse!" Rider exclaimed. "Wait…. What's a dumbarse?"

"Just shut up, why don't you?" Sprocket snapped from a few feet away, looking thoroughly irritated. "Drunk-ass dweeb…"

"I don't exactly appreciate staying behind either," Lightning Rod interrupted the rant at Rider.

"Cool your jets, Sizzle-Chest," Prism Break waved a green-crystalized hand at Lightning Rod. "We'll stay if you like, Spyro."

Spyro nodded. "Thanks, Prism Break…" He trailed off again.

"I swear to Eon's grave, if you all start acting down and depressed again…!" Flameslinger exclaimed.

"Ignore him," Stealth Elf said, batting her eyelashes, as she covered Flameslinger's mouth with her hand. "Continue."

He pushed her hand away. "Last I checked, you weren't my mo'zer."

"Ew, that'd be gross," Stealth Elf stuck out her tongue to emphasize this.

Hot Head rolled his eyes at them. "Why don't you two call yourselves Romeo and Juliet and get it over with," he grumbled.

Flameslinger turned to face him. "Because Romeo 'ad to kill 'imself if I remember right. 'Zen again, I 'aven't watched 'zat in forever, so who knows…"

"Whateva," Bouncer waved his hand at them.

"This is serious!" Spyro suddenly exclaimed. "I mean, we don't have to be all depressed about it but can the jokes be saved for later? Ninjini, if you would…"

"Right. Tree Rex, Shroomboom, Zook, Stealth Elf, Camo, and Stump Smash, you guys first," Ninjini said, holding her hands back, the fingertips beginning to glow pale yellow. Tree Rex hid behind Eye-Brawl, but the Undead Giant shoved him forward, giving him a hardy pat on the back. Tree Rex glared at him, but walked over to Ninjini anyway.

Shroomboom, Zook, Stealth Elf, Camo, and Stump Smash followed cautiously, avoiding Tree Rex's huge feet. Tree Rex stood in front of Ninjini. "A giant tree mutant floating in the air… This should be interesting…"

"And slightly disturbing," Ninjini giggled, snapping her fingers.

Tree Rex began to float slightly. He gasped and wobbled a bit before he caught his balance. "Ninjini… this is VERY disturbing…"

"Haha," she continued to giggle at him.

"Hey! Me next!" Camo jumped forward, sitting down in front of her, wagging his tail like a dog.

Ninjini rolled her eyes and snapped her fingers again.

Camo began to float. He wafted over to Sunburn and prodded him on the shoulder. "Now we can have SKY races!"

"Puh-lease. I could beat you any day," Sunburn said, rolling his eyes, too.

Camo pouted slightly. "Oh, come on!"

"Guys! Killer fire dragon, ring a bell?" Spyro said in annoyance.

"Right, so, me next!" Shroomboom bounced forward, and continued to jump up and down. "Me next, me next, me next!"

"Calm down before you have a manic episode," Ninjini muttered, her eyes flashing as she snapped her fingers again.

"Hey! That was private!" Shroomboom exclaimed, before beginning to float slightly. He continued to pout even as he was lifted off the ground.

"What was private…?" Ninjini asked, raising her eyebrow.

"Uh… nothing," Shroomboom laughed nervously. "Continue…"

"Wierdo," Ninjini muttered. "Stealth Elf!"

"I'm here," she said in an irritated way. Hot Head looked at her interestedly. This could be interesting.

"Not sure what your issue is, but here," Ninjini snapped her fingers and Stealth Elf too began to float. But she did not turn around immediately.

"Maybe because you're just plain antagonistic?" Stealth Elf inquired, glaring at Ninjini.

"Can you guys pick fights later?" Spyro interrupted them, flicking his tail. "We're trying to get this over with as quickly as possible!"

Flameslinger dashed towards Stealth Elf. "'Ey! You're 'ze first flying Life elf!" He exclaimed.

"Ah-ha-ha, ha-ha," Stealth Elf pretended to laugh, wafted back towards him. He looked offended.

"What's 'vour problem?" He asked.

"What problem?" She asked him pointedly.

He groaned and walked away from her. "Never mind…"

Hot Head cupped his hands around his mouth as best he could and called, "Drama queen!" He could be quite the jerk if he wanted to. When he was fourteen (er, which was about ten thousand and fourteen years ago…) he had called himself a "good jerk" and Swarm and Bouncer had never let him forget it. _Ugh, that was so stupid! _He groaned inwardly.

"Shut up, Hot Head!" Stealth Elf shot at him.

"Someone's on their time of the month again…" Bouncer whispered to Hot Head, laughing loudly afterwards. Hot Head laughed along with him.

"I heard that! I'm an elf, you imbecile!" Stealth Elf hollered again.

"ENOUGH!" Spyro shot a fireball straight up, jumping down from the Core to stand next to Ninjini. "Can you guys possibly joke without distracting everyone?" He asked in exasperation.

Ninjini pushed him away slightly. "Stop being so harsh, we're only playing around," she said. "Stump Smash, Zook," she called. "Here you go," and she snapped her fingers and they began to hover off the ground as well.

"You can make two of them do it at the same time?!" Spyro's jaw practically hit the ground. Bouncer and Hot Head had to lean on each other's shoulders they were laughing so hard at his expression.

"Of course, I can do many of them at the same time," Ninjini said smugly, obviously lavishing his stupid expression.

"Then just do them all!" Spyro sputtered, obviously flustered.

"Well, ask next time!" Ninjini spat.

"What is 'er _problem_?!" Swarm exclaimed heatedly from next to Hot Head.

Hot Head rolled his eyes. "One minute ya love her, the next minute ya hate her guts. Make up your mind, man."

"….shut up," Swarm glared at him.

"You're hot then you're cold, you're yes then you're no, you're in then you're out, you're up then you're down…" Hot Dog and Molta harmonized from a few feet away with their own voices. Hot Head laughed louder. They had good voices, but the song made perfect sense with the situation.

"Where'd 'vou two even 'ear 'zat song?" Swarm asked.

"Portal Masters!. You guys slept all night, sometimes Sheila got up, played songs on radio!" Hot Dog exclaimed, panting happily and wagging his tail. "Really fun songs, too! Like Big Time Rush ones, or… Someone named Taylor Swift, someone else Ross Lynch, then there's Lonestar and Reba and—" Bouncer cut off his rant.

"What on Eon's name are ya yappin' about?" The robot asked, blinking.

"Not like you'd care anyway!" Molta barked angrily, lashing his tail. He and Hot Dog stalked away towards Sunburn and Camo.

Hot Head recoiled slightly. "Since when did those two get mad about… well… _anything_?"

"Who knows," Bouncer shrugged.

"Ninjini, if you'd please speed this up," Spyro complained again, whipping his tail from side to side in annoyance.

"Alright, alright, don't get your purple hide in a bunch," Ninjini grumbled. She floated upwards a bit and then closed her eyes, the underlines glowing bright blue. "_Voculumn!" _She shouted, snapping her fingers. Everyone began to float at once except the ones Spyro had said were staying and those who could already fly without her help.

"I want to float funny too!" Rider exclaimed.

"You're already floatin' funny!" Flashwing snapped at him. "In your head, that is."

"Erm…. Am I staying here?" Kaz asked from the brambles.

"If you value your life," Ninjini hummed in a sweet voice.

Kaz yelped and dashed towards the Far Viewer, hiding behind it. Hot Head smirked. He saw a great opening for a joke. "Hey, Kaz! I wouldn't be getting too comfy around that Far Viewer—I hear it attracts lightning during thunderstorms and sheep during good weather!"

Kaz yelped again and jumped away from the Far Viewer, looking at it as though it were an alien afterwards.

"Hahaha!" Bouncer and Hot Head leaned on each other again as they laughed loudly. Kaz shot them a dirty look, but continued to sit far from the telescope. "What a coward," Hot Head commented.

"Ninjini, you sure 'at guy's got all the crazy powers you were sayin' he had?" Bouncer asked the magic giant as she floated over to them.

"Yes!" She exclaimed huffily. "Now come on, we have to go!"

"Geez, okay," Hot Head only just realized he was floating several inches off the ground. He blinked at his now hovering feet. "How on Skylands am I supposed to fly with these? I hover maybe an inch and a half over the ground!"

"It's still over the ground, though, isn't it?" Ninjini asked him pointedly. "Isn't it?" She repeated darkly.

"Uh… yeah, right…" Hot Head murmured, laughing nervously. Something about Ninjini could unnerve the crap out of him sometimes. Especially how those white, soulless eyes would look right into his. It was creepy! It was like staring at nothing, just blank, white, nothingness!

"Good Jerk," Ninjini said sweetly, patting him on the side of his head. Hot Head's cheeks, if they weren't already boiling red, would have turned even redder.

"I said that when I was fourteen, good Eon!" He exclaimed.

"Yeah, geez, that was ten thousand and fourteen years ago, can't ya drop it?" Bouncer laughed.

"You guys are about as funny as Onk Beakman on crack, now get up in that sky before I photosynthesize blast you all into that sky!" Tree Rex ushered them into the sky where Spyro and at least half of the other Skylanders were waiting.

Bouncer and Hot Head nervously scratched the backs of their heads as they shifted over towards the edge of the island. It was so weird, you know, walking without touching the ground! Hot Head had been used to stomping around like an angry sasquatch, not hovering over the ground like a prissy sorceress… He gulped and floated off the edge of the island, expecting to fall into empty air, but instead, he continued to hover. Bouncer too!

"This is beyond weird," Bouncer muttered.

"I know something else that's beyond weird!"

Hot Head looked up and gaped. There he was… the big fire dragon! This dragon was huge! He had at least a forty foot wingspan and a body at least fifty feet long. His entire back, from his head to his tail-tip, was on fire. His main body color was orange, and his muzzle, wings, feet, and tail-tip were red. The spines of his wings were orange, as well as the veins in his wings.

"Let 'ze flames… begin!" The dragon laughed maniacally. Another, albeit smaller, dragon was next to him. Blaze. That fire dragon was scarlet-colored with a yellow muzzle and paws. His wings were also brick-red, and his eyes blue.

"'Zat's my line!" Flameslinger shouted.

"Shut up, does that really matter right now?" Ignitor asked him, slapping him in the back of the head out of annoyance. "In case you haven't noticed, he's—!"

Ignitor was cut off as the dragon flew up into the air and shot a long rod of flames from his mouth, and twirled in a circle. He looked like a giant swirling spin-top… His wings made the clouds around him blow away. Flames engulfed his entire front, only those cruel, emerald eyes apparent… Slowly, the flames spelled out something… P…. Y…. R… O… Pyro…

Pyro then turned to look at them, striking green eyes landing on them once again. He laughed louder as the flaming letters turned from letters into…. Tiny red dragons?! The same tiny red ones that had attacked the Citadel!

Each was small, with dark, crimson red scales. Their claws were yellow and their eyes dark navy blue. Their wings were orange and they had horns all over their bodies. They laughed mindlessly and flew forward, beating their wings against the winds.

"Tech Skylanders, firepower, now!" Spyro roared. "Time for battle! You all know what to do!"

Bouncer shot forward, his floating wheel spinning aimlessly. "See ya in a bit, Hot Head! This robot's got some shootin' to do!" He turned around and began firing off bullets at the speed of light at the larger dragon, as well as some passing smaller dragons.

"We're right here at the Citadel though—!" Warnado exclaimed from ahead of Hot Head. "What about Sonic Boom's kids and Ka—!" He was cut off by two small red dragons attacking him. They latched onto his shell with their teeth and began trying to scrabble at his face with their claws.

Hot Head was swarmed by four of them. He began twisting and shooting flames at random, but it appeared to have no effect…. He roared in outrage and his flames burned hotter, and hotter…. Until they were blue in color. The fire dragons squealed as the broiling hot flames touched them, backing away and then vanishing like a defeated troll or chompy.

"Bring it on, then!" Hot Head shouted, continuing to have blue fire come from his hands.

"How're you doing that?" Sunburn asked him, throwing a dragon off his back by bucking like a horse.

"Hold your Flamethrower Breath until it turns blue, and don't stop! Tell the other fire Skylanders they have to hold whatever fire attacks they have for a long time before their fire turns blue!" Hot Head exclaimed, punching several other dragons that came at him.

"I got it!" Sunburn called, another small dragon locking onto his back. The phoenix hybrid began to spiral through the air in a barrel roll, bucking like a bronco every now and again.

Hot Head looked around, the heat of battle flowing through him… The Skylanders would NOT lose!

"That is what you think!" Hot Head whirled around to face Sonic Boom. The griffin laughed and flew in a circle around him, slapping him with her wings several times. Hot Head froze. How could he fight Sonic Boom…? She was practically a mother to everyone!

"What's the matter, Hot Head?" Sonic Boom sneered, lashing her tail. "Are you going to stand there like a totem pole or hit me with that blue fire of yours?"

"I, uh…" Hot Head's flames reverted back to their reddish-orange color. He just floated there and sighed, swallowing his pride. What if Sonic Boom had finally lost it, being on her own so much…? "Sonic Boom, listen! This isn't you! Look at your children!" Hot Head pointed at her kids who were huddled behind Jet-Vac as he mercilessly fought off several other dragons.

Mayflower looked away from Jet-Vac and spotted her mother. "Mum!" She shouted. "Help!"

A flash of recognition appeared in Sonic Boom's eyes and she gave a screech that sounded like a cross between a threat and pain, flapping her wings sharply to keep herself in the air. Hot Head grinned. Maybe _that's _what had happened!

"NO!" Sonic Boom suddenly roared. She dove down at the Citadel and landed with a boom next to Jet-Vac. The dragons around him vanished and he faced her.

"Sonic Boom!" He exclaimed in relief.

"Don't trust her!" Hot Head yelled. He tried to direct himself downwards so he could go to the Citadel, but he found it difficult… UGH how did Hex and Ninjini do this?!

He groaned loudly and basically fell forward, placing him at a horizontal angle, like Superman in flight. He felt ridiculous. "Grr…" He growled as he kicked his legs, suddenly taking off like a rocket. He practically fell on top of Sonic Boom, nearly crushing her.

The griffin rolled away from him and screeched again, loudly and angrily. The shockwaves of the roar bowled him over, knocking him into the ground. Jet-Vac shoved Sonic Boom's four kids behind him. "Stay there!" He snapped.

"But that's our mother! We've been waiting for her!" Godspeed exclaimed.

"Trust me, that's not your mother," Jet-Vac growled, continuing to back up as Sonic Boom stalked towards him.

Hot Head righted himself and shook his head vigorously, his eyes rolling dazedly. He then eyed Sonic Boom, wondering yet again what had gone so wrong with her… Normally, he'd have loved to make a joke or two, but when she was so willing to harm anyone… No. Something was definitely very wrong.

"Sonic Boom, I'm warning you, get _back_!" Jet-Vac snarled.

"Well, well, _Jet-Vac,_ I could do that, but why? Humph. You'll never replace Aixeta! You're just a lowlife Sky Baron! You don't even have wings! Windham could produce something a lot more excitable than you! You know you're not those brats' father, so why even try?" Sonic Boom sneered at him, clicking her beak and flaring her wings. "_Never_!"

"But… What…?" Jet-Vac shook his head quickly, balling his fists and pointing his Vac-Blaster at him. "I'll shoot you! I'll do it!"

"With what? Air? I _control _air, imbecile!" Sonic Boom roared, jumping on him and shoving him to the ground, her claws on his neck. "Now, goodnight, _Jet-Vac…_" She sneered again.

Hot Head had seen enough. He blasted his flames full swing, and aimed them at Sonic Boom. Consequently, Jet-Vac was burned slightly as well, but Sonic Boom squealed and jumped off him, trying to bat the flames off her.

Hot Head continued to hold his flames… But they weren't turning blue! What was wrong?

"F… Fool!" Sonic Boom panted, glaring at him. Her body was burnt badly, but she wasn't backing down… Not at all…

Hot Head closed his eyes. He couldn't kill her! He couldn't fight her! He couldn't! What would everyone else think? He didn't want to be remembered as the one who jumped the gun and killed one of the best known allies the Skylanders had ever met!

"Well, what're you waiting for?!" Sonic Boom roared, staring at him from a few feet ahead, just in front of where his flames fizzled out from his hands. "Do it! DO IT!"

"I… I can't!" Hot Head exclaimed. Just then, the fire flowing from his hands finally turned blue. "I can't!" He wailed again, backing away from her.

"_Coward_!" She roared. "You're nothing but a stupid—" Sonic Boom flew into the air and flashed past him, scraping his face with her claws. Blood spurted from it for a moment. "Dumb—" She came back and slapped him with her wings. Hot Head stopped letting flames flow from his hands, afraid he'd burn her again. The blue fire died away. "FOOL!" She roared at last, biting his shoulder and shoving him to the ground. "And you'll never be anything more!"

"GET OFF HIM!"

The force of the roar knocked Sonic Boom far from Hot Head's back. He stood up shakily, feeling as though on the verge of tears. Hot Head saw through his stinging eyes Storm, whose chest was heaving and his tail lashing. He glared spitefully at his mother, his claws sinking into the ground and retracting repeatedly.

Sonic Boom jumped back to her feet, several small red dragons appearing behind her. "Oh, Storm, don't tell me you'll fight your Mum…" She pretended to pout, the small red dragons licking their lips as they began to walk around him, like vultures circling dead prey.

Hot Head blared his flames again, fire erupting automatically in a blue blaze. He didn't want to kill Sonic Boom, and if he did, he'd never forgive himself, but that was a risk he'd have to take…. Storm was her child, and he was protecting others! He did not deserve death!

The blue fire burned Sonic Boom again, and she stood strong for a few moments, but then she screamed and tried to fly away, only for her to realize her wings were burned beyond repair. Hot Head relented on the fire and she practically crawled away. "You'll… You'll never… Never win!" She roared.

The small red dragons pinned Storm to the ground, hissing at him. Storm struggled, but was no match; the dragons, even as small as they were, were a lot larger than he was. Hot Head roared as he began to burn them with his blue flaming fire. Storm's wing feathers were skinned slightly, but he was otherwise unharmed as the small red dragons vanished.

"Thanks, Hot Head," Storm said dryly.

"No problem," Hot Head said in his usual braggy slur. Storm just blinked and walked back towards Jet-Vac, who was holding back Mayflower. Hot Head was honestly surprised to see her angry expression.

"Let me GO, Jet-Vac!" She snarled. "LET ME GO!"

"No, I'm not, so calm it down!" Jet-Vac snapped, shoving her down to the ground and holding her wings down.

She continued to struggle to get up, but soon enough, tired out. Hot Head whipped his head back to face the battle… It was long from over. Cynder and Spyro were flying circles around Pyro's head, while the Tech Skylanders blasted away multiple laser blasts at Pyro. But in there way, Blaze and many of the small red dragons were attacking, dodging, and sacrificing themselves to protect Pyro.

"They're insane!" Hot Head exclaimed. "Insane!"

* * *

**I'm one of those people who can't stand to read over their own work or they'll nitpick it to death, so I more or less skim over mine. I'll be editing it over the next few or so days (Thank you, God, for just giving us all the idea of... *cringe* school) so if you do see any mistakes, whether plotwise or grammatical errors, do be sure to tell me in the review(s)!**


	20. Bluefire Pt 2

_**Bluefire, Pt. 2**_

* * *

Trigger Happy zoomed next to Spyro, hopping on the dragon's back. This floating stuff was easy! He had figured it out already. It had to do with a particular pattern of breathing. No wonder Hex was an Undead element and Ninjini had plain white eyes… He began firing away gold coins at the huge fire dragon coming closer and closer towards them.

Spyro flared his wings, dodging several blasts of fire from the dragon in front of him. Pyro was HUGE. Trigger Happy hadn't seen Gill Grunt in a while… Where was that walking fish? Trigger Happy looked around and saw him back to back with Chill, Zap circling them and firing electricity at tiny red dragons. Gill Grunt was just blasting away with his hose. Chill was throwing her javelins and conjuring ice walls, although she looked to be on the verge of exhaustion…

"Wait a second!" Spyro suddenly called, stopping from flying anywhere. Trigger Happy had to grasp onto his neck to stop himself from falling off.

"What is it, Spyro?" Trigger Happy and Cynder's voices coincided with one another.

"H-he's pushing us back!" Spyro exclaimed, looking back. "He's trying to get to the Citadel!"

Trigger Happy hadn't realized it, but Pyro had indeed been pushing them back. Slowly but surely, he had been fighting as hard as he could to get past them and to the Citadel… But why?

Trigger Happy suddenly gasped. No! He couldn't! "Spyro—what if he's trying to get to the Core of Light?!" Trigger Happy half-asked, half-yelled.

Spyro's eyes widened and Cynder hissed loudly. "Then we're going to have to stop them!" Cynder spat.

"There's no stopping me!" Pyro laughed. "Don't you see? Look around you! Your precious warriors are dropping like flies!"

Trigger Happy began to look around wildly. He first saw Blaze, the larger of the small dragons, attacking Ninjini brutally. He bit her shoulder and tore off a chunk of her gown, and when she went to cut him with her sword, he dodged, and two small fire dragons bit onto her arm. She roared in outrage and yelled something, throwing the two small dragons off her and causing them to vanish like a defeated enemy normally did. But Blaze slapped her in the head with his tail, throwing her back onto the Citadel's ground.

Ninjini didn't get up again. The clouds around her feet vanished and she groaned in pain. Tree Rex boomed something and landed beside her, floating a few centimeters from the ground. Trigger Happy's eyes then traveled to Hot Head, Hot Dog, Molta, Jet-Vac, and all of Sonic Boom's kids. He was astonished when he saw Sonic Boom… fighting the Skylanders?!

She was! She looked badly injured, but refused to back down. Hot Head looked completely confused as to what he was supposed to do, but Jet-Vac almost looked to be out for blood. Storm was also flaring his wings and spitting at his mother, his feathers ruffled angrily.

Hot Dog and Molta were throwing fire walls in every direction, but it had no effect on the small dragons. Sunburn suddenly flashed by them, landing next to them and whispering something to them.

Hot Dog and Molta smiled at one another and then charged up the biggest fire wall they could. Sunburn landed and opened his jaws, flames jetting outward. But… slowly but surely… his flames went from orange-red to… blue?!

When Sunburn touched the fire dragons with his blue flames, they squealed and ducked away or vanished. Trigger Happy grinned wildly, his tongue lolling out.

Spyro suddenly jerked to the left, his claws wrapped around Cynder and his teeth on Trigger Happy's fur. Trigger Happy wriggled free of him and floated away a bit, but he then saw why. Pyro too was shooting fire from his jaws in one long beam, and he too was holding it…

"Damn it!" Spyro snarled. "BACK ONTO THE CITADEL! EVERYONE!"

"Hurry! Ninjini could lose consciousness any second and when she does, her spell will wear off!" Tree Rex shouted from the ground.

Everyone began hastily making their way back to the Citadel. Trigger Happy was thrown to the side on accident as Bash, his body wrapped around a smaller red dragon, rolled onto the Citadel. He whacked the dragon to the side with his tail and then jumped on top of it, putting his claws to its throat.

"And this is for corrupting Geo and forcing us to kill him!" Bash roared, rearing back his tail, preparing to strike the defenseless fire dragon in front of him with it. Trigger Happy's vision suddenly went black as Spyro held a paw in front of his face.

"Trust me, that was something you wouldn't have ever wanted to see," Spyro told him, getting in front of him and pushing him back. Trigger Happy furrowed his brows. "What do you mean?"

Ninjini must have lost consciousness, because Trigger Happy was floating one second, and then he just fell to the ground the next. Everyone else realized this too.

"Unless you want to see brain matter everywhere, I suggest you drop it," Cynder spat from next to Spyro, her sides heaving exhaustedly. Spyro glanced at her and narrowed his eyes in worry.

"Lay down somewhere," he ordered her.

"I know you're not talking to me!" Cynder cried shrilly. "I am not going to take a battle with a huge fire lizard lying down!"

"We can take him, you're stressed and tired, you need to lie down!" Spyro snarled. He flicked his tail and flared his wings, his fire shield activating for a moment. Trigger Happy backed away slightly. What on Skylands was Spyro talking about…?

Cynder hissed at him and attacked a nearby fire dragon, lacerating its throat with the end of her tail and beating it with the spikes on her wings. Blood sprayed from its wounds just as it vanished.

Spyro slashed his claws through the ground. "She doesn't listen!"

"Right you are…"

Trigger Happy and Spyro both looked up, and Blaze was circling them. The orange-red dragon bared his teeth and hissed, "Right you are… wonder what Pyro could do to her… Of course, we wouldn't want to hurt her, considering she is a purebred like yourself, Spyro, but with the way you two have chosen to live… it is uncouth for someone of your heritage."

"It doesn't matter where or what we come from!" Spyro snarled. "All that matters is that we do what's right! Heritage and bloodlines never bring anything good!"

"You've obviously let these blood traitors fill your mind with fairy tale philosophies!" Blaze snarled. "The purple dragon of Skylands _must perish_!" He jumped on top of Spyro and they wrestled at close range. Trigger Happy tried to take aim with his gun, but he was fearful of hitting Spyro.

Spyro slashed and hacked at Blaze with his claws, spewing fireballs as fast as he could. Blaze either took the fireballs like they were nothing, or dodged Spyro's clawed attacks. Spyro then suddenly shot something Trigger Happy had never seen him use before—water.

He had heard of Spyro being part of the Water Fury at the battle with Geo, but he had never actually seen Spyro use it. He always acted like he was afraid or hated water.

Blaze ducked and rolled, but then slashed his claws across Spyro's shoulder, shoving him to the ground. Blaze then held Spyro's mouth shut with one of his front paws, glaring at him. "You could have done way better. As a rare, mystical purple dragon, way, way better. But no. You wasted your time defeating stupid gnorcs and then some bald-headed, midget buffoon. You're laughable."

"G— off m—!" Spyro's words were muffled by Blaze holding his mouth shut. Trigger Happy began to fire coins at him, but Blaze opened his jaws and let out a major heatwave that pretty much melted the coins before they got anywhere near him.

"Keep your gold to yourself!" Blaze spat. He turned back to Spyro. "Ah, where were we? Oh right, I was about to kill yo—what on Skylands are you doing?!"

Spyro's purple scales began to turn to a dark, navy blue color, and his orange horns, crests, claws, and underbelly turned to gold. His crimson eyes stayed the same, but he now looked far, far different… He wasn't Dark Spyro either, because that was black with silver… This was blue with gold.

"I said GET. OFF. ME!" Spyro roared, forcing Blaze's paws off him when he opened his mouth. He threw Blaze off and charged at him with his flaming horns. Soon enough, huge, spirit-like horns joined Spyro at the side, and he rammed straight into Blaze, knocking him halfway across the Citadel.

Chill and Gill Grunt fought off four red dragons and then turned to Spyro and Blaze. Chill smirked. "Leave him to us, Spyro…"

"Yeah, we can take hi—Spyro?" Gill Grunt looked him up and down. Chill put her focus on Spyro rather than Blaze and she too looked dumbfounded.

"I don't know, it just… happened, alright? But take care of him!" Spyro said, pointing at Blaze. He then tore off to head towards where Pyro was. Trigger Happy would have followed, but he was afraid he wouldn't be fast enough on his tiny, stub-like legs. Pyro was beating around skilled warriors like they were nothing…

"Flank his right and we'll keep here on the left!" Flameslinger shouted to some nearby Skylanders, Wrecking Ball, Pop Fizz, Zap, Slam-Bam, Bouncer, and Wham-Shell. Beside Flameslinger, Stealth Elf, Eye-Brawl, Thumpback, Roy, and Double Trouble were doing all they could to injure Pyro.

"Question: how do we _get_ to his right?!" Wham-Shell asked heatedly.

Wrecking Ball darted straight through Pyro's legs, and Trigger Happy felt his heart skip a beat. What if Pyro just stepped on him? He was big enough to really squash any of them! Even the giants, compared to Pyro, were mediocre…

"Do what Wrecking Ball did!" Flameslinger shouted irritably. He aimed his arrow uncertainly ahead of him, but then dropped it. "There's too much going on… I can't see!"

"Then take off that dumb blindfold! For the millionth time!" Stealth Elf exclaimed, disappearing. A dummy sprouted up from where she had vanished, and Pyro blew embers at the fake Stealth Elf, destroying it.

Flameslinger appeared to be on the verge of full-on panic. "What? Stealth Elf?" He called.

"Flameslinger, remove the blindfold or sit out of this battle!" Eye-Brawl called to him, Brawl punching Pyro's legs, while Eye zapped at his body repeatedly.

"I can't just—fine!" Flameslinger undid his blindfold, throwing it to the ground. He immediately tucked and rolled to the side, shooting flaming arrow after flaming arrow at Pyro.

Pyro laughed loudly, pointing his muzzle into the air, shooting a long beam of fire from his jaws. He did not relent, he continued to let the flames blow from his mouth. He pointed the fire at the Skylanders around him, forcing them away.

Or, all but Spyro. He charged through the fire as though it didn't bother him, although Trigger Happy knew all too well it would. Pyro continued to aim his flames at Spyro, but he pressed on. His horns collided with Pyro's leg, and the fire dragon was merely shaken slightly.

"If you're going to burn yourself to death, you at least might want to have a plan!" Pyro called, although his words were barely understandable because he was keeping his mouth open. His flames then began to shift in color…

"SPYRO! Get out of there!" Hot Head and Sunburn's yells jinxed one another.

Spyro barely managed to escape Pyro's line of fire as it turned to blue, and scorched the ground beyond recognition. "FOOLS!" Pyro boomed, no matter how incomprehensible his speech was. "I'll kill you all!"

"You'll do no such thing!" Cynder snarled from beside the Core of Light, standing protectively over Mayflower and Godspeed. Trigger Happy had no idea where Storm and Lionheart were, but it was likely they were with Jet-Vac, wherever he was.

In fact, where was Sonic Boom? He had seen Hot Head fighting her earlier… The answer was clear enough when A roar sounded from behind Spyro and he was knocked to the side. She barely managed to fly high enough to get over Pyro's flames, but then practically fell from the sky next to him. She panted heavily as she stood next to Pyro, lashing her tail.

Pyro didn't even acknowledge her. He glared at Cynder and eyed the Core of Light like a piece of meat. "Ah, Cynder…. And of course, the Core of Light… As well as two of Sonic Boom's brats. Well, well, well, four-in-one deal!" He pointed his muzzle at them and the flames went from blue to white.

Spyro launched himself into the air. "_You get away from her and get away from that Core_!" He bellowed, raking his claws across Pyro's face. The dragon roared in pain and stopped the endless flow of flames from its jaws, closing its mouth. It stumbled backwards and Trigger Happy gaped at what Spyro had done.

Spyro was now in his darker alter ego, Dark Spyro, rather than whatever that blue and gold version was, and was standing in front of Pyro, panting. Pyro's eyes were bloodied and blood was running down from his eyes all across his face. He beat his wings in a disoriented matter, and Trigger Happy jumped as all the small red fire dragons began to vanish.

Blaze, who was still wrestling with Chill and Gill Grunt, took one look at Pyro and then turned and tried to fly away. Chill threw a javelin after him, managing to slash a cut on his hind legs and lower back. "Coward!" She hollered hoarsely after him.

"That's right, you better run!" Gill Grunt exclaimed afterwards, firing off some more water just for good measure.

"Everybody be still and get back!" Spyro called, backing up. Trigger Happy tensed his guns, pointing at Pyro. Drobot landed at his side and Sprocket came running over.

Sprocket's suit was battered and her left shoulder had a deep gash in it, and she was breathing heavily, but otherwise, she looked alright. Drobot's suit looked semi-melted, and he appeared to have difficulty trying to get his helmet off. "Dweeb," Sprocket muttered as she helped pull the helmet off. Drobot gulped down air once it was off his face, growling afterwards.

"Great! Dumb fire monstrosities! Now I have to go back to my workshop and repair my suit! It's all melted and small and it doesn't fit!" He ranted.

"Shut up, will ya? Look!" Sprocket pointed towards Pyro, whose whole face now looked to be coated in blood. He had his teeth bared, and when Cynder shifted to get close to Spyro, he jerked his head in her direction and spat a fireball.

Spyro shoved Cynder out of the way, and managed to duck just before it hit him, but one thing was for sure, something wasn't right… Trigger Happy scratched his head. What had Spyro done to make Pyro so much more edgier than he already was? And how come he only attacked Cynder when she moved? "What's wrong with Pyro?" Trigger Happy asked.

"You thick or sumthin'? Spyro blinded him!" Sprocket told him. "When Pyro went to destroy the Core, Cynder was in the way. My guess is he lost himself for a minute—which is why he turned into Dark Spyro—and just did what he could do fastest that he knew would stop Pyro."

Trigger Happy found himself recoiling. Spyro wasn't like that! He tried to find the fairest way to settle something; he didn't just rush in and physically disable his opponents! Sure, maybe he had been forced to with Geo, but… Trigger Happy shook his head. Was Spyro turning… darker?

Spyro carefully began to talk. "Pyro, turn around, and leave."

"I'm not moving anywhere! You blinded me, you pathetic fool!" Pyro snarled, lashing his huge tail, nearly slapping Tree Rex across the Citadel. Tree Rex shot his tail with a Photosynthesis cannon to stop him from doing so, but Pyro saw it as an attack and slapped Tree Rex anyway with his wings, hissing loudly. He turned back to Spyro, his teeth still fully bared. "I was sent here to destroy the Core, not you idiots! But you all kept jumping in the way!"

"Yeah, because we're just going to sit by and let you destroy the Core!" Stealth Elf yelled irritably.

"Yeah, do we look stupid to you?" Spyro demanded, his scales reverting back to their normal coloring.

"You are a purebred dragon, Spyro, why do you waste your time with these halfbreeds and blood traitors?" Pyro's question caught everyone off guard.

"What does he mean by halfbreeds and blood traitors?!" Rider suddenly hollered, jumping to his feet. Hex wafted away from him slightly and Chop Chop looked confused.

"Hopefully some of those little red dragons burnt some sense into him," Sprocket grumbled. "'Cause if he's still livin' on Venus, ain't nobody got time for his nonsense."

"I mean ones just like you!" Pyro spat, lashing his tail again, looking vaguely in Rider's direction. Tree Rex ducked this time rather than shooting at Pyro. "Elf-drow hybrid!"

Rider jumped slightly, nervously fiddling with his hair. "Oh, what do you know!? You're just a dumb dragon from Dragon's Peak!"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sunburn demanded from next to the Tree of Life, Camo glaring at Rider right alongside his friend.  
"All of you shut up!" Spyro exclaimed, flying overtop the Core of Light. "Pyro, I have no idea why you and your friends are attacking us. But I do know this: leave now, or we'll attack you again. You're completely alone. Blaze has fled, and we can kill you right now if we want."

"I say we murder him and keep his hide for flooring!" Whirlwind growled, landed next to Drobot. She had a look of pure fury in her eyes. Trigger Happy was astonished by her sudden violent nature as well.

"Geez, it's like we go into battle and I don't know any of you anymore!" Trigger Happy exclaimed, still in astonishment.

Spyro ignored them. "Go, now, Pyro. I don't want to have to hurt you any worse than I already have."

Pyro curled his top lip. "Then you're going to have to deal with it!" He roared jumping to his feet. He opened his jaws and spat more fire everywhere, blindly trying to burn away everyone within a thirty foot radius of him. Double Trouble and Roy quickly floated in front of the Core of Light, using their Eldritch beams to conjure some sort of shield in front of it to stop the flames from burning it down.

Sunburn and the other Fire Skylanders came to the rescue as well, using their own flames to block of Pyro's. "Let's fight fire with fire!" Sunburn laughed, his fire almost immediately turning blue.

"Fire really is nothing but destruction!" Drobot said, baffled. "Give me back my—never mind…" he had been about to grab and put his helmet back on, but it was too melted and destroyed to be of any use. "Darn it! Great, now I'm useless."

"You're not useless, but I think it'd be best if we stayed out this fight," Whirlwind comforted him.

"Well I'm not!" Trigger Happy laughed maniacally, firing coin after coin at Pyro. The dragon beat his wings against the ground, as though expecting Trigger Happy to be close by. But what he didn't realize was that Pyro's wings had to be at least forty feet wide—because when he smacked them against the ground, he knocked Trigger Happy and many other Skylanders back, or flattened them to the ground.

Trigger Happy tried to hold onto the ground, but his stubby fingers wouldn't allow it. He was nearly blown off the side of the Citadel, but someone grabbed him by the fur just as he went over the edge.

"Not leavin' yet, are ya?"

"Gill!" Trigger Happy cried, hugging the gillman as he was brought back up over the edge.

"What, I've been fightin' this entire time, I haven't been gone or nothin'…" Gill Grunt sounded confused.

Trigger Happy couldn't explain it, but when Gill Grunt had been away from him and Spyro, he felt… strange. Like he was scared, but not of something, but for something… or someone. Had he been scared for Gill Grunt?

Gill Grunt ruffled his fur. "Now come on, side by side, let's beat this walkin' matchstick!" Gill Grunt jiggled his gun and began shooting water from his hose at Pyro. Trigger Happy began firing coin after coin yet again.

This time, Pyro was obviously fearful and overwhelmed.

"Get him good!" Riley called, zooming around Pyro's feet, leaving water all around him. Pyro suddenly reared back and prepared to slam down with his front paws. But Riley had not realized this.

"Riley!" Cynder wailed.

Riley yelped and managed to get away from him… or, most of the way. When he slammed back down on the ground, he smacked the ground with his wings, throwing Riley against the Core of Light, and knocking away many other Skylanders. The unconscious Ninjini was tossed against several trees, Tree Rex barely managing to grab her before she was thrown off the edge of the island.

Hex had conjured what looked like a bone ball all around her. She shot orbs repeatedly at Pyro. The blind dragon suddenly gave a loud screech that sounded like nails on a chalkboard times nine thousand.

"And leave'em alone!" A cracked and fearful voice shouted.

"Kaz?" Trigger Happy gaped when he saw the indigo colored dragon standing beneath Pyro's chest. Pyro's chest had a blade in it, and blood was dripping from the edge. Kaz's moments' courage seemed to vanish, because when Pyro turned to try and fly away, he began wailing like a lost kid and then… _vanished_?

"Uh… just to clear that up, everybody saw Kaz just disappear into nothing, right?" Trigger Happy asked.

Sprocket, Drobot, Gill Grunt, and Whirlwind nodded.

"Insanity!" Drill Sergeant boomed from a foot or so away, rolling towards them.

"Who cares! Blow'em up!" Boomer laughed along behind him, two lit dynamite sticks in his hands.

"Throw those!" Sprocket sputtered, throwing herself to the ground out of reflex.

"Oh, right, sorry!" Boomer threw the sticks of dynamite towards Pyro, and they blew up just as he was taking flight off the side of the Citadel.

"Good riddance!" Gill Grunt shouted after him.

"See you never!" Trigger Happy yelled, laughing.

"AND STAY OUT!" Bash roared after him.

"Yeah, ya bettah run!" Dino-Rang shouted, smirking.

"Stay out of our Citadel!" Riley called, weakly pulling herself up from the side of the Core. But she fell and yelped, breathing heavily.

Cynder curled up close to her friend, Mayflower and Godspeed following her, and joined in at yelling at Pyro. "Useless fire iguana!" She hissed.

"We're the Skylanders! You should know you can't beat us!" Spyro himself called, actually sounding excited for once.

"Yeah! We beat him!" Trigger Happy whooped, giving Sprocket a high-five. She clapped and Drobot began struggling to get the rest of his semi-melted suit off, Whirlwind helping him.

Gill Grunt sprayed water into the air, making it appear to be raining. "Yeah-hoo!" He hooted, laughing happily afterwards.

"Sonic Boom! Listen to m—" Trigger Happy turned to see Jet-Vac trying to talk to Sonic Boom. The griffin attempted to bite him, but he leapt out of her reach.

"Mark my words!" She panted, struggling to her feet, tiredly beating her wings, taking flight. "We'll be back!" She tried to follow Pyro, but fell back down onto the Citadel. Trigger Happy shook his head in astonishment.

"She's delusional, exhausted, and injured," Sprocket muttered.

Spyro landed and took a quick look around. "Kaz? Kaz!"

The small indigo dragon was back in the brambles, shivering. He appeared to be on the verge of a full-blown panic attack to Trigger Happy. He looked up at Spyro. "Y-yes?"

"Come on over! You're a hero!" Spyro exclaimed.

"What?! Him? A hero? No way!" Gill Grunt bleated.

Trigger Happy glared at him as well. Kaz had sent them to Geo's home isle once in an attempt to get them hurt or even killed… No doubt about it! But Spyro didn't have any cold hard evidence…. Which meant he'd never believe them.

Trigger Happy was just glad Ninjini hadn't been awake to hear that. She would have surely pulled a Sonic Boom and left… and probably have gone insane too.

Kaz looked as alarmed as Trigger Happy and Gill Grunt felt. "W-what? N-no, I'm not! I just—"

"Come on!" Spyro called again, tapping the ground in front of him to gesture where he wanted Kaz to be.

Kaz dipped his head respectfully and tentatively made his way out of the brambles towards Spyro. "Y-yes?"

"You saved us big time back there! If you hadn't shoved that shard into Pyro's chest, who knows what would've happened! And then how did you vanish like that?" Spyro asked.

"I don't know… I guess it was one of my powers I forgot I had…" Kaz whispered, visibly trembling.

"Spyro, he ain't no hero! That guy makes me sick!" Gill Grunt yelled hotly, jumping to his feet. Trigger Happy instinctually followed the movement, his hands tensing around his guns. "Yeah!" He backed Gill Grunt up.

Spyro looked at them both, baffled. He then narrowed his eyes scornfully. "Stay away from Ninjini, why don't you?"

"We didn't get it from Ninjini! And we're not makin' it up! I already told ya! That guy's the one who gave me and Trig the map to Geo's land! He tried to have us killed!" Gill Grunt continued to shout.

"And what about t'ose chompies? T'e one's I fought on t'at island and nearly killed me?" Chill unexpectedly backed them up as well. "I'm not as t'ick as I was as a child, Spyro. If he can vanish and shoot a shard from nowhere, t'en he's a magic dragon, which means he can also cast spells. Ninjini even said so just before she left. He knows more t'an he's letting on."

Spyro gaped at them. "Anybody else going to shoot down Kaz?" He asked, sounding irritated. "He just saved our lives!"

"For what reason?" Whirlwind suddenly interjected as well. "Spyro, he's a shady character, that's all I'm saying. Plus, didn't Ninjini rant on before she left about him being a magic dragon and how he killed Scarlett?"

"When Scarlett was killed, I thought Kaz looked funny," Slam Bam tossed in his two cents from beside Wham-Shell and Shroomboom at the top of the staircase that led to the beach. "He was out of breath and had a sla—"

"I told you that was a sparring match accident!" Jade jumped to Kaz's defense, lashing her tail. "What is wrong with all of you?"

"I don't know, what's wrong with you? You're not working for them as well, are you?" Cynder snapped irrationally, glaring at the gem-studded dragoness angrily.

"Me?!" Jade indignantly flapped her green crystalloid wings. "Why on Skylands would I work for them? If anybody's working for them, it's you!"

"_Enough! Nobody's working for them! _And if I hear one more idiotic accusation, I'll personally set your bed on fire while you sleep!" Spyro growled, shooting both Cynder and Jade sharp looks.

Trigger Happy just gaped. They had just one a huge battle! They shouldn't have been fighting already! Even so, it was Kaz that was to blame for anything, not each other!

Jade glared at Cynder as she made her way over to Flashwing, irritably lying down next to her sister.

Cynder just wrapped herself more firmly around Riley and Sonic Boom's two kids, keeping her fangs bared.

Kaz had shrunk away, nearly back into the brambles. But Spyro beckoned him back over and the indigo dragon crawled up next to him and then lay down.

"Kaz, you really saved us back there. You are no longer under watch, or anything else," Spyro dipped his head, normally a sign somebody would show to him out of respect. "Go on."

Kaz's eyes lit up and he trotted, albeit cautiously, over to Jade and Flashwing. Flashwing hissed uncharacteristically and moved away from her sister and Kaz. Many must have noticed it, but nobody made any sort of comment.

"Now, Whirlwind, Flashwing!" Spyro called.

Whirlwind looked up from where she was trying to wrestle Drobot's suit off him. She had gotten it most of the way, but it was still pretty stuck. "Little busy right now!" She huffed, beginning to claw and scrabble at the metal.

"HEY! Watch it, will you?" Drobot growled, pushing away from her.

"Well, hold still!" She snapped.

Spyro blinked. "Hex, can you please help them?"

Hex was in between Rider and Ghost Roaster close to Cali's cabin. Sparx the Dragonfly was fluttering around it madly. Hex said something to the dragonfly in an irritated way, and then floated over towards Drobot and Whirlwind.

"_Procul!_" She said, moving her hands sharply upwards. Drobot's suit came flying off him, and he jumped back, gasping for breath.

"Thank you, Hex! And Whirlwind, what were you attempting to do, kill me?" Drobot looked scornfully at her.

"I was trying to help you, if you must know," Whirlwind spat, walking over to Spyro.

"Women! Always taking everything way too personally," Drobot rolled his eyes and then flopped down on the ground. "At least those insane dragons are gone…"

Flashwing had no problem trotting over to Spyro and answering him. "Yes?" She and Whirlwind's voices intertwined.

"I hate to put all this on your shoulders, but we need everybody who was injured healed," Spyro explained apologetically.

Flashwing took aim at the rim around the Core of Light with her tail and shot a single shard. "Just put them in front of that," Flashwing murmured.

Whirlwind gave Flashwing a disgusted look. Spyro ignored them and called out across the clearing, "If you're hurt badly, and can walk, come over to the Core! If they can't, somebody help them over!"

Trigger Happy looked around. "We're all okay, right?"

"Nothing injured here but my pride and joy," Drobot pouted, kicking his half-melted suit.

"Just a scratch on the shoulder, no big deal," Sprocket muttered. But Trigger Happy didn't think it was 'no big deal'. The scratch on her shoulder had to be at least five inches long and two inches deep.

"You need to have that checked, it could get infected," Boomer said before Trigger Happy opened his mouth.

"I am fine!" Sprocket said stubbornly, pulling spare parts from her belt. She took her blowtorch to them and built a turret in less than five second. She jumped on top of it and sat there. "I am perfectly _fine_."

"Please?" Trigger Happy pleaded with her. She looked surprised, and then she groaned.

"Fine, fine, fine, I will," Sprocket grumbled, huffing.

"Now how come she listened to you?" Boomer asked, crossing his arms.

"Dunno," Trigger Happy shrugged. But one thing was for certain. They had won! Pyro was down for the count, and if these dragons were as cold as they acted, the Skylanders could expect for Deu Sol to get rid of Pyro for good.

* * *

**Deleted scene:**

**This scene was deleted because it just would have felt awkward trying to squeeze it in somewhere, and the part where it would have come in was where Spyro shifts to his other form. So, it's pretty much here just for fun.**

* * *

"G— off m—!" Spyro's words were muffled by Blaze holding his mouth shut. Trigger Happy began to fire coins at him, but Blaze opened his jaws and let out a major heatwave that pretty much melted the coins before they got anywhere near him.

"Keep your coins to yourself!" Blaze spat. He let Spyro go, and the purple dragon was immediately swarmed by other, smaller red dragons.

"Here's somethin' for ya!"

Several of Sprocket's mines landed in front of Blaze and he was blown back. He screeched furiously and jumped back towards Trigger Happy just as Sprocket got to his side.

"What?!" Sprocket exclaimed, her eyes wide. "That should'a killed him!"

"Tough luck!" Blaze spat.

"Always wanted to tell ya somethin', Trig," Sprocket gulped, backing away from Blaze as he prepared flames in his jaws.

"Yeah?" Trigger Happy aimed his pistols at Blaze. But when he pulled the trigger, the gun did not go off. It made an odd clanking sound and Trigger Happy groaned. "It's really going to jam on me _now_!?"

"I've always kinda thought you were cute, but if we survive this, and if you tell anyone," Sprocket turned to him and pointed at him with her arm that had the blowtorch on it. "I'll kill ya anyway!"

"Ooh, gee, way to make me feel better!" Trigger Happy shot at her, still trying to unjam his gun.

* * *

**And that's where I stopped and deleted it.**

**So, be sure to say how you liked it! Tried to make it as action-y as possible. Meh. xD**


	21. A Forgotten Truth

_**A Forgotten Truth**_

* * *

"Kaz, I have a question to ask you. Why is it you constantly yap on about this Jade girl of whom I do not care and is completely expendable to our cause?" The violet dragoness demanded.

"Expendable? You mean, I have to take her out?" Kaz jumped back, feeling frightened. He didn't want to hurt Jade! He couldn't…

"If she gets to the point where she is causing you to forget what you are there for, then yes. And last I heard, she is a filthy hybrid… although, you are one too, so I guess you two are birds of a feather," she taunted him.

Kaz glared at her. "It's not my fault I'm part spell punk!" He exclaimed.

"Oh, who knows and who cares. But Kaz… if you fall in love with her, you'd be putting a bullseye on her chest. Watch your step!" She snapped. Then, the violet dragoness's hologram was gone.

* * *

_**Two Hours Later…**_

* * *

Jade shifted and leaned closer to Kaz. "It sure is sad whatever Sonic Boom's kids saw… Storm was really saying some crazy stuff when he got back," she murmured, sighing contentedly. It was night, and the Skylanders were all getting ready to sleep. Except for Spyro, who was talking with Gill Grunt. Or arguing, more like. They turned their attention to the purple dragon and gillman when they really began to yell at each other.

"I'm just trying to figure all this out just like all of you are!" Spyro shouted, agitatedly flaring his wings. "I need help!"

"And that's what I'm tryin' to give ya, but ya refuse to listen!" Gill Grunt snapped. "I'm tellin' ya, dusky hair ain't the nice guy he says he is!"

"Dusky hair?" Kaz echoed. "Hey! I like my hair!" He played with it uncertainly. He was used to the taunts the others often gave him about his fascination with his own hair.

Jade giggled. "He's right."

"Whatever," Kaz turned his attention back to Gill Grunt and Spyro.

"Fine, if that's how you want to be, then go on ahead! Be that way!" Spyro glared at Gill Grunt. They locked eyes and then broke their gazes apart. They both sighed, and as though a switch had been turned, their voices became soft, and nearly inaudible.

"So this is it, then. We're no longer friends, are we?" Spyro asked his once-friend hopelessly.

"Guess so…" Gill Grunt refused to meet Spyro's eyes. "We're just fallin' apart. One by one."

"I'm trying to fix that…." Spyro sighed heavily and flopped to the ground.

"Well, you can start by kickin' that JB wannabe out!" Gill Grunt shot a glare in Kaz's direction. Kaz glared right back. They broke their eye lock on one another, and Kaz found his mind reeling. They had just been ready to tear each other apart, so why did they just suddenly stop and almost sound sorry for what had just happened?

Kaz snorted. He didn't understand the relation between Spyro, Gill Grunt, and Trigger Happy. He was baffled as to how Spyro and Gill Grunt kept trying to be friends with one another. Kaz lavished the fact that they were fighting about him, though.

"Spyro's going against his own words…" Jade whispered, her eyes falling to her paws.

"What do you mean?" Kaz asked her automatically. Ugh, why did he do that? Now she was going to give him some lengthy, emotion-ridden explanation he didn't want.

"Spyro says we need to stick together now more than ever… But he's keeping a wall between himself and Gill Grunt over the same old argument. Not that Gill should be so hell-bent on saying you're evil, but… bah, never mind," Jade turned her head in embarrassment.

Kaz, without much understand himself as to why he was doing it, wrapped his wing around her. "Hey, it's no pro…" Kaz's words died in his throat. He was lying. He had been about to say 'it's no problem', but that was a lie. He was a problem. He was possibly the biggest threat to the Skylanders. "I mean… I'm sure we can get over this…" Kaz found the words coming from his mouth sounding strangled and constricted.

"Are you okay?" Jade asked him, blinking as she looked back at him.

His heart was pounding in his chest. Could she sense he was lying? It honestly wouldn't be all that hard, with all his constricted speech… But normally, he could lie without trouble. He was quite the actor, if he did say so himself. "Y-yeah, I'm fine."

"You know…" Jade looked to the left, then the right. Kaz followed her head's movements instinctively. Nobody but Spyro and Gill Grunt were up. They were lying in the brambles, up against the far viewer, so he couldn't be sure without standing up just who was awake and who wasn't. Kaz stood up and looked around. Gill Grunt and Spyro were in fact the only ones awake.

"I know what?" Kaz asked her, puzzled.

"Flashwing's been acting strange lately," Jade murmured. "She's been snapping at me and Dino-Rang a lot, and she normally doesn't do that…"

"She's been a little snippy with me, too," Kaz nodded in agreement.

"Kaz…" Jade looked at him, and this time, when Kaz's heart started racing, he knew it wasn't because he was lying. It was because she was staring right at him, right into his eyes… He wished he could break away, but he couldn't. He gulped.

"Y-yes?" He asked.

"I've been meaning to ask you something…" She dropped her voice to that of a nearly inaudible whisper. "Do you like me?"

Kaz felt all the color drain from his face and his mind go blank. What… what did she mean? Sure, he'd always felt a strange... Sometimes unexplainable, connection with Jade, but was it really…. Like that?

He was sure she could hear his heart beating wildly against his chest. "Um…" He stalled, looking away nervously at the ground, and shifted uncomfortably. His hair suddenly felt very hot around his head. But he gained a sudden courage.

_Well, here goes nothing…. I don't care what Ala has to say about it!_

"Yes," he answered finally. "Yes, I do."

"How so?" Jade asked him the next question without giving much thought to his previous answer.

Kaz couldn't bear to look at her. He had lied, deceived, and done everything else heinous (mentally) he could think of to her. He felt like a caught weasel. What were these feeling swarming under his scales? Then another thought struck him that made his face really go white.

What if she caught him talking with Ala and he ended up having to kill her? Or what if Ala took oath to her word and did her in?

His eyes stung in a way he had never felt before. He turned away from her. "J-Jade…" He whispered, biting his lower lip. An odd feeling pricked his scales. He didn't understand that feeling either. It was like a cross between shame and disbelief… Was it possibly guilt? No! That wasn't possible!

He had done much worse things than lie in his lifetime. Oh, much, much worse. The face of his sister was still quite plastered to his memory, as he tore her apart. He had raped and killed one Mabu girl that had once refused to listen to him. Her thrashed corpse had been tossed over the edge of the island, and the inhabitants of that island didn't forget him very quickly.

He had murdered countless Molekin when they protested against Deu Sol's leadership of Dragon's Peak… Ah, now that was a fun time… Kaz swore he still had some of their blood in the deepest crevices of his scales.

Kaz couldn't help but let a small, sadistic smile creep up on his face. Ah, blood… It was the very substance that kept every living being alive, the very substance that carried oxygen to the brain, heart, lungs… It was also a great drink.

"Kaz?" Jade flitted her eye lashes at him and Kaz was brought semi-back to the present. Thoughts still swirled in his head.

Kaz closed his eyes as he remembered that one heart-stopping moment during the battle with Pyro that had caused him to go to such extreme measures. While he had managed to pass it off to the others as his way of getting back into Spyro's good books… that wasn't the truth.

"_Jade!" Kaz whirled around. Where was she?!_

"_Stupid walking bonfire!" Jade snarled, shooting a large green shard at Pyro. Pyro roared in reflex and began beating his wings against the ground. Just as he was about to stomp on her with his monstrously huge foot, Kaz felt fury like no other burn through him._

"_Leave her be!" Kaz streaked forward in a half disembodied way, somewhere between invisible and solid. "_Solisis_," he said quickly, shooting a large, ninja star-like blade from the end of his tail. _

_Jade rolled away just as Pyro stumbled backwards, shocked by what Kaz had done. Kaz himself found his mouth dry. What had he just done?_

No… to get back into Spyro's good books was far from the reason. Luckily, Riley had been too caught up in the action for anybody to notice Jade. They had thought he had just been acting a hero's role… Like any other Skylander would.

Another chilling thought struck him. What if Spyro was beginning to think of him more as a Skylander rather than another mouth to feed?

Kaz smirked. Then, he'd just have to act it out. He looked back at Jade, and, with regained confidence, tried to answer her question.

"Easy. Because you love me back, don't you? And you're pretty and smart… And a little sarcastic, and I can live with that," his smirk grew larger as he leaned against her further. The guilty feeling continued to prick him. Kaz shook it off. He was Kaz! Lying was not something to be guilty about.

"Ooh, okay then…" Jade licked the side of his face quickly, pushing him over. She pressed herself on top of him. Surprised, Kaz looked up at her questioningly.

"What're you doing?" He asked.

"Nothing," she said lightly, although Kaz could quite easily tell it wasn't 'nothing'. She then kissed him. He smirked and leaned back in, closing his eyes in the bliss of the moment.

"Sure appears like nothing to me," he joked.

"Well, Mister Disappear, what do you think?" She winked at him.

* * *

Sprocket woke up feeling refreshed, but her shoulder still ached. The dumb fire doofus that had given her the gash had paid for it dearly though, so she wasn't concerned.

She slept inside of her tank often, even though Whirlwind had fussed about it being unhealthy for her shoulder, which had been wrenched out of place. Sprocket remembered Whirlwind shoving it back in place quite clearly, maybe a bit too clearly.

She shifted uncomfortably and yawned, opening her eyes. It wasn't quite dawn break yet. The sky was still only slightly filtering light into the dark expanse of sky, and starlight still glittered down on her. Sprocket hopped out of her tank, rubbing her hands back and forth against each other. "Time to get to work!" She murmured to nobody in particular. Whirlwind was still breathing deeply as though in a deep sleep in a grassy pit nearby.

_I don't blame her,_ Sprocket thought. _She was runnin' her tail off yesterday, and everybody wasn't exactly in the best of moods after bein' thrashed around by Pyro._

Whirlwind had said that Ninjini had a concussion, and that she wasn't going to be awake any time soon. Drobot's suit, as he had stated the day before, was melted beyond repair; he had flown off with Hex to his workshop, which wasn't too far away, but far enough to where Spyro had already begun worrying last night.

Sprocket honestly thought Spyro worried too much sometimes. She shrugged her shoulders, and guessed that being a leader meant you were supposed to worry a lot. Sprocket didn't know what she would do if leadership were dropped onto her shoulders; she wasn't that great under pressure.

Back to injuries. She began reciting what she had heard Whirlwind and Flashwing report yesterday… Chill had basically exhausted herself to the point where she was in danger of collapsing. Fright had managed to lose a rib bone, and while Whirlwind had said it would be of no concern, Rider had still acted frayed and panicky about it. Double Trouble and Roy both had bad burns from trying to fight off Pyro's flames from reaching the Core of Light…

Sprocket recalled the few Skylanders she had fought alongside; she had mostly fought by Slam Bam, Wham-Shell, Drill Sergeant, Drobot, and Whirlwind, and most of their fight had been against those annoying small red dragons. She had seen Drill Sergeant take bad burns to his drill-like hands, but Sprocket was unsure whether or not, being made by Arkeyans and all, whether Drill Sergeant's metal would have melted or not.

Slam Bam had overheated, despite his cool composure in which he casted his own distrust about Kaz. Dino-Rang had a sprained ankle and deep cuts on the same leg, impairing his walk big time. Flashwing was being snippier than usual, although Sprocket had no idea why; she hadn't been hurt at all in the fight.

Sprocket gave up trying to remember what had happened to whom. She had hardly managed to remember all that. She yawned again and looked around. She wasn't the only one up.

Spyro was trying to talk to Chill, who still looked bleary and exhausted. Sprocket strained her ears to listen in, and thanked Eon for the stillness of the winds today and nobody snoring (which Tree Rex normally did very loudly…).

"Spyro, I can't, and you know t'at! Don't you remember what happened t'e last time I was in any sort of position of power?" She looked back at him with her striking blue eyes. Sprocket remembered quite well why Chill had been 'driven' from her homeland in the northern regions of Skylands.

She had failed to keep hordes of enemies from swarming her home isle, and was knocked unconscious about halfway through the fight. Battered and guessed to be dead by enemies and comrades alike, it wasn't until the battle was done and lost that anybody bothered to check whether she was alive or not.

Chill never said anything past that. Perhaps she was too embarrassed and ashamed. Sprocket shrugged. She didn't really care what Chill had done. Was it really that big of a deal that they had to kick her out and everything? Sprocket had heard that after the Thaumaturge's land was taken ahold of by the enemies that they had scattered all across Skylands once again…

She shook herself out of her thoughts and turned her attention back to Spyro and Chill herself. Spyro nodded.

"Yes, Chill, I do remember. I'm not asking you to be a guardian of the most important person on Skylands or anything, just to be a… a co-leader, and to help me," Spyro explained, sighing. "You still look exhausted… Maybe you should sleep on it?"

Chill looked undecided between snapping at him, saying that she didn't need him to tell her whether she needed sleep or not, and adhering to his words. But then, she too sighed. "I will do my best. I might actually be able to get _some _kind of honor back…"

Spyro grinned up at her. "Thanks, Chill!"

"Question: am I supposed to let anybody else know?" Chill ignored his enthusiastic response, yawning widely. Sprocket swore she saw Chill wink at her.

"It doesn't matter to me, but I'd prefer you not say anything about it until you, Flameslinger, Tree Rex, Hex, Jet-Vac, Prism Break, Drobot, and I had a chance to talk about it altogether."

'One more question… why are you choosing them?" Chill inquired yet again, yawning again as well.

"Well…." Spyro shifted uncomfortably. "Flameslinger has good leadership skills. He demonstrated that yesterday. He was able to keep a cool head and order others (intelligently, I might add), all that stopped him was he had to take his blindfold off before he really understood what was going on.

"Tree Rex is wise, and old, I know, but that's a very powerful combination, believe it or not… Don't give me that questioning look, Chill. You know that Tree Rex was already old when he was banished to Earth ten thousand years ago. He didn't age while frozen, but if I do remember correctly, he was already forty three when he was banished to Earth.

"Hex doesn't know I've chosen her yet, but I can see her leadership skills. She doesn't mind giving others orders, and she's strong, both mentally and physically. She may lose her temper every now and again, but that's why others are there to help her—"

Chill cut him off. "You may trust her, Spyro, but you've got to remember… Ot'ers don't. And even t'ough you want us all to just get along, it just doesn't work t'at way."

He sighed and shifted his weight. "I know that. But how are we not going to _learn _to get along if we don't try it with some of the toughest out there? Anyway… I'll continue. Jet-Vac has militaristic background. He understands battle strategies. While he didn't stay quite as long as he should have at the training facility at Windham, he still knows enough to be of great use.

"Prism Break thinks through pretty much everything. He was very tactical in the battle yesterday. He didn't just lose control like Bash did and started bashing the dragons' heads in, he actually thought out strategies using his prisms and beams. He aimed carefully, and he did great.

"Last but not least, Drobot has superhuman brainpower. I don't know where he gets it, but the guy can go through an entire textbook of math problems in two minutes and ask for another one—WITHOUT his suit. He was smart yesterday, too. He was fighting alongside Sprocket, Whirlwind, and some others, and they had a remarkable strategy plan going for them," Spyro ended his long monologue by taking a few breaths, and stretching his wings.

"You forgot somebody. Me," Chill told him matter-of-factly.

"Oh… Well, you're a strong and proud warrior, that's why. You know battle strategies and use your head, and if you have to get just as low and dirty as the enemy, then you will without hesitation. Not many others will," Spyro murmured, dipping his head. "Including me. It was because Cynder and the Core of Light were in danger that I actually blinded Pyro. Had he simply been shooting some flames at me and anybody else, I probably, at the most, would have tried to use the Water Fury again with the Water Skylanders…."

Chill nodded. "I understand." She then yawned. "Ugh, now I'm going to sleep. Oh, and hey Sprocket," Chill waved her hand at Sprocket, smirking at Spyro as he jumped in surprise.

Sprocket smiled smugly, turning around. She didn't mind. Drobot'd make a better… er… what had Spyro called it…. Co-leader than she would. Out of the blue, she remembered Flynn's ship being down at Sapphire Isle. Had Spyro forgotten?

She whipped around and charged toward him. Spyro looked at her almost cautiously. "Yes?" He asked.

"What about Flynn's ship? Y'know, the one that went down at Sapphire Isle?" She asked quickly.

"I haven't forgotten," Spyro looked down at his paws, closing his eyes as though in physical pain. "But yesterday, far too many were injured and flustered to go anywhere. Pyro attacked us unexpectedly, and though we had already discussed a battle plan, nobody was ready and everybody was shocked… So we were a bit off par, if you know what I mean…"

Sprocket nodded. "Yeah, boy, do I know. Anyways, when're we leavin'?"

"I don't want to wake up anybody, but I'm afraid of what we may find at Sapphire Isle, and we'll have to go before the Jet Winds kick up…" He looked up again and stared at Sonic Boom.

She was lying across the clearing, still passed out. Hot Dog and Ignitor had been taking turns watching her overnight, to make sure she didn't wake up and try killing anybody else (and they were too far away to have heard anything Spyro and Chill had been talking about). Sprocket instantly felt her mood drop lower. Sonic Boom was under some kind of curse, and nobody but Ninjini would know how to lower it, and while she was in her concussion coma, Sonic Boom was stuck as she was.

"But I want to try and fix her first," Spyro nodded towards Sonic Boom. He then stood up, giving Cynder a quick glance (she was laying on the other side of the Core of Light, only her head in view). Riley was lying next to Cynder. Sprocket remembered that Riley had broken her leg in the fight with Pyro. "I wonder…" He concentrated hard on the ground, flaring his wings in effort. Sprocket backed away. What was he doing…?

Then she realized that he was turning to his darker alter ego. His purple scales turned to black, and his horns blazed silver. His claws, ridge, and underbelly all turned a silvery sheen as well. He went to approach Sonic Boom.

Rider suddenly came shooting from the side of the Tree of Life.

Spyro stopped and looked at him. "Yes?" He queried, immediately reverting back to his regular self. Sprocket sighed with relief. There was something about Spyro's dark form that made her nervous…

"Erm… Sprocket? Do you mind leaving for a moment?" Rider looked up at her, and gave her a pleading look. He looked fidgety as well, his hands twiddling with his shirt.

Sprocket narrowed her eyes at him. She didn't like him. He had brought alcohol into the Citadel and had allowed it to overtake his life and his abilities—and obligatory duties—as a Skylander. She slunk off towards the Tree of Life, but not too far so that she wouldn't be able to hear him and Spyro.

But she'd have to be careful. If she so much as made a peep, Rider would easily know she was there, thanks to his oversized dish heads he called ears.

He immediately turned to Spyro. "You won't be able to break the curse they've put on her. That's the Empyr Hex. It takes any and all bonding emotional values a person has, and basically destroys them for as long as the he-curse, I mean, remains. Only somebody with a truly evil soul can break it," Rider muttered, fidgeting even worse with his shirt.

Sprocket raised a brow. So what was Mister Elf-slash-Drow getting at?

"What do you mean?" Spyro asked Rider, blinking.

Sprocket inched forward slightly to hear what Rider said next. "I can break it," he whispered.

Spyro cocked his head. "But you just said—"

"I know what I said…" Rider ashamedly ducked his head and tensed, as though preparing for something that did not come. Rider sighed and nodded, loosening his posture. "You don't know what really happened to me when I was corrupted, do you?"

Spyro's eyes suddenly locked onto Sprocket. "Sprocket!" He called.

Sprocket groaned loudly and walked over to Spyro. _Here we go, _she thought grumpily to herself. Rider looked as though all the color had drained from his face, and he looked at her blankly.

"Rider asked that you did not listen in," he growled. "So why did you?"

"I, uh…" Sprocket felt like a naughty school girl being scolded by an old history teacher. What right did he have to scold her, anyway? "I was just curious," she said contemptuously.

"For what reason? Because I'm a hybrid, right?" Rider growled at her, balling his fists. "Oh, back off, why don't you?" He snapped.

"I haven't done a single thing to you, so you can knock that nonsense off!" Sprocket snapped right back. She stomped back towards her tank, and tore off the tools from her belt, practically throwing them on the ground. No sooner had she done that did Spyro return to his dark form, and, after sharing a last few, inaudible words with Rider, darted towards Sonic Boom.

Spyro said something and held out his paw to Sonic Boom, startling Ignitor. The Fire Spirit wafted aside a little drowsily, as though he had been awakened. Sonic Boom was instantly forced awake.

Sprocket flicked her gaze at Rider real quick. He was shaking with some kind of force, and an odd glow was coming off his fingers.

Sprocket turned her attention back to Sonic Boom and Spyro. Sonic Boom appeared to be in physical pain. She screeched, and Rider stopped muttering under his breath, and Spyro stopped too.

Sprocket blinked blankly. _What just happened?_

Rider groaned and fell to the ground, looking as though he were about to pass out.

Spyro reverted back to his normal self and slashed his claws through the ground. "Darn it!"

"That the best you got?!" Sonic Boom taunted, dazedly falling down.

"What happened?" Spyro sputtered, flaring his wings. When Sonic Boom got back up, she glared at him and flared her own wings, clicking her beak.

"I'll turn you to mincemeat!" She snarled.

Sprocket turned to look at Rider. He hauled himself off the ground and looked around, looking agitated. "Fright!"

The ostrich poked his head out from behind some bushes close by. Other Skylanders were awakened by the commotion.

"What is with all the racket? I'm trying to get my beauty sleep!" Flashwing grumbled from next to a tree, yawning.

"You need it!" Camo laughed at her groggily from next to the Tree of Life. Sunburn stretched his wings from next to him and yawned loudly, spewing a small ember from his beak. Camo pushed him playfully. "Come on, didn't you say you were gonna try that tele-whatever stuff again?"

"Telekinesis, and I am," Sunburn responded. "As soon as I wake Ghost Roaster up and irritate him for some breakfast!" He got up and began walking over to the ghoul, who was resting on a chair on Cali's front porch.

"Hey, don't forget me!" Camo fretted, running after his friend.

Sprocket shook her head. _Idiots, _she thought, turning back to Rider.

He had told Fright to do something. Fright gave a slightly indignant squawk and then headed off towards the staircase that led to the beach. He accidentally stepped on Slam Bam's arm, who grunted and woke.

"Huh? Morning already?" He asked sluggishly.

Fright simply glared at him before walking down the stairs.

"What's his problem?" Slam Bam asked, jostling Wham-Shell awake from beside him.

"I don't know, but I was sleeping, you knit-wit!" Wham-Shell grumbled, getting up dazedly from his bed made of leaves. "And I like my sleep. Especially when I haven't been able to sleep how I wanted for over two years."

"Let's try this again," Spyro growled, jumping onto Sonic Boom. He wrestled her to the ground. Now everybody in the Citadel was awake. Sprocket looked at Rider. He looked panicked.

"Ugh… Spyro, there are too many of them up now!" Rider called.

"What's he mean by that?" Trigger Happy yawned, plopping down next to Sprocket. She hadn't even noticed his approach.

"Dunno," she answered, staring at him analytically. "But he's been actin' funny."

"Oh well. What's going on?" Trigger Happy asked her, yawning again.

"Spyro's trying to fix Sonic Boom with Rider's help, and I'll give you the details later," she murmured. She was completely focused on Rider right then.

Spyro jumped off Sonic Boom after she scored a cut across his shoulder.

"Stupid Skylanders!" She hissed. "You'll never beat Him!"

"Nobody cares, because 'vou're outnumbered and we can beat 'vou any day 'vou please, so go right ahead and continue to try and kill Spyro, because it won't do 'vou any good!" Flameslinger snapped, quite unusually bad-tempered. Sprocket was completely surprised and caught off guard by his tone of voice.

Flameslinger always wanted to joke about something, and he never was in a bad mood. Or, at least, not for the past year she had known him.

"He's right, Sonic Boom, so calm down and let us help you!" Spyro pleaded.

"I don't take help from you!" She snarled again. She rose into the air. "Good _bye_!" She turned and flew off.

"I'll follow her!" Jet-Vac offered immediately, running up to Spyro's side. Spyro pushed him away a little.

"No, never mind," Spyro sighed. "We'll have to deal with her later. Rider!"

Rider came walking up to Spyro, his hands stuffed firmly in the pockets of his pants. "Yes?" He asked, sounding quite miserable.

"This isn't your fault, so don't act like it is," Spyro told him reassuringly. "Hex should be back any time now. It shouldn't have taken them that long to get to Drobot's workshop to fix his suit and get back."

Rider nodded. "Right… Fright!"

Fright came prancing back up the staircase, looking completely indignant. Rider called him again, but he pretended as though he didn't hear, and laid down next to the staircase's railing.

"Dumb ostrich," Rider grumbled, walking over to him.

Sprocket blinked. "Dang! I am so confused!" She exclaimed.

"Me too, what the heck is going on?" Trigger Happy demanded.

"Long story short Sonic Boom's got this crazy curse on her that's made her forget she was ever a Skylander and made her hate everyone she used to love and Rider got to talkin' with Spyro sayin' stuff about the curse and said he could break it so Spyro tried to let him, but somethin' went wrong—" she panted afterwards. She regained her composure, cleared her throat, and said in a purr-like tone, "That explain it all?"

"Sure, whatever you say, Speedy Gonzalez," Trigger Happy rolled his eyes.

"HEY!" Spyro suddenly shouted. Sprocket immediately covered her ears. What was his problem?! was he trying to make them all deaf?!

"Yeah, what?" Sprocket muttered, cautiously lowering her hands from her ears.

"We're going to Sapphire Isle, right?" Chill asked from the crowd below the Core of Light.

"Sapphire Isle?!" Hot Dog and Molta exclaimed together. "It's about time!" Hot Dog barked.

"I know, I know," Spyro dipped his head. Sprocket realized that he had reverted back to his original self. "But only these Skylanders will come! Flashwing, Jade, Kaz, Sunburn, Camo, Stealth Elf, Flameslinger, Fright Rider, Sprocket, Pop Fizz, Red Fizz, Double Trouble, Roy, Hot Dog, Molta, Hex, Swarm, Lightning Rod, Jet-Vac, Whirlwind, and myself!"

"Last I checked, Kaz was under watch and not a Skylander by any means," Ninjini's voice came like a slash through the air. She sounded deathly angry, and quite irritable.

Sprocket craned her neck to see Ninjini floating at the edge of the crowd, Tree Rex standing cautiously a few feet from her left.

"Ninjini… He saved our tails in the battle with Pyro. He nearly killed him!" Spyro exclaimed. "You really can't deny it any longer, can you?"

"Of course I can!" Ninjini's voice came once again like a physical blow. Her wishblades appeared in her hands and she clenched them so tightly, her hands trembled. Sprocket looked up at Spyro and then back at Ninjini.

"Someone's in deep schist," Prism Break laughed, sitting down on Sprocket's left.

"Schist? What the hell is that?" Sprocket asked him, dumbfounded.

"Type of rock, and it's supposed to be a joke—you know what, forget it," he waved his prism-hand, and shook his head in annoyance.

"Well, last I checked, I was a Golding, not a Crystal Golem," Sprocket rolled her eyes.

"Ninjini…" Spyro glared at her. His gaze softened and he shook his head. "You're obviously allowing your emotions to get in the way of your better judgment, Ninjini. Think for a bit."

"I don't need to think and I _CERTAINLY _don't need you to tell me what I need and needn't do!" Ninjini spat furiously, her entire body beginning to shake with rage. "If you didn't notice, I could have been killed in that fight with Pyro, and all of our efforts are pointless if you let that lying _scum _stay within our ranks! _HE KILLED SCARLETT!_ What more proof do you need?!" She exploded, panting afterwards.

"The kind that gives me definite proof, not just your insane judgment!" Spyro snarled just as angrily.

"You're a fool, Spyro! You've let this position of leadership you have go to your head! You think you own everyone and can tell them what to do when to do it and how to do it! _Don't you get it? YOU'RE WRONG! _You're wrong this time!"

"What if I wanted to repay the Skylanders for allowing me to stay within them?" Kaz suddenly burst from the sidelines. He glared at Ninjini with slits for eyes. "The Skylanders took me in when I was lost, scared, and confused! I am not evil, I don't even remember what or who I was with before I came here! What if you're just sensing whoever I was around before? Ever thought about that?" Kaz growled, flicking his tail.

"I…" Ninjini looked down at him, her swords vanishing. She continued to look at him blankly.

"That's what I thought!" Kaz snarled. He stalked back over to Jade and curled up next to her, glaring at Ninjini.

Sprocket was shocked. All she had ever really seen Kaz do was grovel.

"Please guys, can we not have another bad day?" Spyro asked starkly. "Can't you all just get along for once? I mean, seriously, joke about something. Flameslinger, you're good at this, can't you get up here and cheer somebody up?" Spyro looked at the archer.

"'Course I can! When's the baby due?" He asked Spyro, laughing afterwards. Sprocket giggled.

"Been wondering that myself," Trigger Happy said, stifling laughter.

"Erm… not sure yet," Spyro laughed nervously.

"We're back, whoop-di-doo," Hex's voice came flat and inattentive, and she floated down from the sky into the middle of everyone. Drobot landed behind her, his suit fully repaired. "Took numb-nuts over here long enough to figure it out. Good Eon, he's slow!"

"Hey! You try creating something that un-melts a pretty much roasted suit!" He defended himself. Whirlwind trotted out to meet him and he nodded to her, following her into the crowd.

"So, what's going on?" Hex asked.

"You and some other Skylanders are heading to Sapphire Isle. Now that you're back, we can get going. If I called your name before, come to the center! If you can't fly, somebody who can will hold you!"

Sprocket shivered. "Great, I'm either going to get held by a scaly dragon or have to climb onto the back of a slimy wasp."

"I heard that!" Swarm shot at her.

"You were meant to!" She smirked.

"Oh, whatever, come on!" Swarm called to her good-naturedly.

"Now 'zat's 'ze sort of mood we need around 'ere more often," Flameslinger commented in a satisfactory tone from behind Swarm and Sprocket.

* * *

**Okay, so I wanted to advertise some other stories:**

_**The New Air Giant **_**by Air Elemental1024.**

_**Odyssey **_**by Seraph of Enigma.**

_**The Truth In Your Eyes **_**by XandyPants.**

_**Skylanders ORIGINS **_**by Superdale33.**

_**Family Affair **_**by Seraph of Enigma.**

_**Skylanders Adventures **_**by Air Elemental1024.**

**That will be all!**


	22. Evil Comes Disguised

_**Evil Comes Disguised**_

* * *

**Things to Note:**

*** In the previous chapter, two mistakes were fixed. Riley was not supposed to be on the list to go with the others to Sapphire Isle (due to her broken leg).**

*** The mistake where I mentioned Drobot sle****eping with Whirlwind at the beginning was fixed.**

**On an unrelated note...**

**In chapter 5 (**_**Jet-Vac's Homeland**_**) Spyro mentions he tracked Ace by having Double Trouble and Roy tracking his magic signature. This will be changed because then, how come Spyro never simply asked them to check who killed Scarlett before her burial? Yeah. Huge "I'M AN IDIOT" moment there. xD**

* * *

Flashwing practically slung Camo off her once they reached the very edge of Sapphire Isle. Good Eon that leaf dragon was so _annoying_! She'd never had to be with a more annoying person in her life!

"If you make another cloud joke I'll stab you!" She hissed. Camo smirked and looked back up at her.

"Someone's mad," he laughed, dashing into the trees. She landed next to him, folding her wings to her sides. She could fly with her crystalloid wings, she just had to harness the power of sunlight and the glimmering of it on her crystals in order to. This meant she couldn't fly at night.

"Camo, did you manage to piss off Flashwing already? Good Eon, now we'll all have to suffer!" Sunburn cackled, flying into the trees after his friend, Flameslinger hopping off his back.

Jade landed next to her, dropping Red Fizz from her back. The red and crimson gremlin chuckled and called to Pop Fizz, who was riding Kaz. Kaz lowered himself to the ground and shook Pop Fizz off.

Flashwing glared at them.

"That was not a very smooth ride! Maybe I should give you a levitation potion!" Red Fizz jeered at Jade.

"Oh shut it, wise guy, that wasn't a very fun ride for me," Jade hissed, walking over to Kaz and wrapping her tail around his back left leg. Flashwing felt jab of jealousy in her chest.

Pop Fizz joined Red Fizz in his jokes. "Or should I just give you guys a love potion?" Pop Fizz laughed at them. Jade and Kaz immediately broke apart, blushing slightly. Flashwing whipped her head away from them and watched as Double Trouble and Roy came floating down, holding Stealth Elf up with their eldritch beams.

"Can I get down now?" Stealth Elf asked irritably. "Floating through the air was not exactly enjoyable…"

"Uga boo…" Double Trouble muttered, and both he and Roy dropped Stealth Elf onto the ground at the same time. Dust flew into her hair.

"Haha, very funny," she stuck her tongue out at them once she got back up.

Flashwing could still see the burns both Double Trouble and Roy had earned in the fight with Pyro. She wondered how they were moving around without much of any problems… Maybe Whirlwind had healed them, but the visible marks had not yet left?

Flashwing shook the thought away and watched as Hex floated down with Fright Rider behind her. Rider was pale-faced with fear at the height of which he was floating, although Fright appeared to be enjoying it.

"Hex, erm, can you put me down now?" Rider asked uncertainly, looking at the ground.

"Sure," she smirked and dropped him and Fright perilously close to the edge. He squeaked and jumped away.

"Not funny! You know I'm afraid of heights," Rider pouted, Fright joining him at his side.

"Nope, didn't know that," Hex hummed quietly to herself, continuing to smirk at him.

"Ah, so Rider is afraid of heights, an elf-drow-hybrid, and has alcohol abuse issues," Flashwing summed up to herself in a whisper, smirking as well. "Ha… If only Dino-Rang were here."

Swarm flew down next, Sprocket sitting on her shoulder like a princess. Flashwing rolled her eyes. Sprocket had it in her head that just because she was riding a giant meant she was special. Flashwing then looked at Sprocket's hair. It was, like, this ugly, reddish-crimson color… Auburn, was it? Whatever it was, it didn't seem to fit her.

"Sprocket, I thought I was a 'slimy wasp'?" Swarm asked her humorously, setting her down.

"That's because I was messin' with ya," she answered, jumping off his hand as he went to set her down. "Wasps ain't slimy anyhow."

"Thank you," Swarm laughed.

"The girl can't even talk right," Flashwing muttered to herself, stifling a giggle at Sprocket's obvious southern speech pattern. 'Ain't'. What was that even a contraction for? 'Am' and 'not' without the 'am'?

Lightning Rod wafted down from the sky, holding Hot Dog in his muscular arms. He set him down and, with a megaphone-like voice, shouted, "_We're here, Flynn, Cali, Hu—_"

"Ow, you're hurting my ears, shut up!" Flashwing snarled. "We have to get to Sapphire Lake before they can hear us, genius!" She hissed.

Even Hot Dog looked embarrassed, and that was saying something! Hot Dog was usually a bone-headed buffoon!

Whirlwind beat her wings as she landed, setting Molta on the ground carefully. He wagged his tail and joined his brother. Whirlwind landed on the ground and looked around. "How far do we have to go?"

"All the way to lake, yes, yes!" Hot Dog exclaimed, pointing with his paw to the beaten path through the trees.

"Wait a second, guys!" Spyro called, panting as he landed. Jet-Vac landed on the grass next to him. "Geez, at least give us a second to catch up!" Spyro laughed. Flashwing could tell the laugh was quite empty, and he was simply doing his best to cheer them up.

It must have worked for Hot Dog and Molta though, because they went tearing off down through the path that led to Sapphire Lake. "Hot Dog! Molta! Wait up!" Spyro shouted after them, charging into the trees.

"Four hours of flying, the last hour having Jet Winds to boot, and those two are _still _able to run and jump and be obnoxious?" Jet-Vac asked in amazement. 'Where on Skylands do they get the energy?"

"They weren't the ones who had to fly," Whirlwind said, scowling.

"Well, come on, we have to go after them! Let's ride!" Rider exclaimed, hopping onto Fright's back. "Ha, haven't had a chance to get a good ride in the field for a while now! Let's go!" He kicked Rider's thigh with his left heel and they were off.

Whirlwind quickly followed suit, running mostly rather than flying. Lightning Rod floated exhaustedly after them, Jet-Vac grumbling to himself as he too followed suit.

"Race you there!" Red Fizz taunted Pop Fizz, drinking his orange soda and transforming into a large, furry, berserk-looking monstrosity. His large ears became even longer and his eyes even less focused. He went barreling down the beaten path, Pop Fizz doing the same.

"Am I the only one with any brains here at all?" Hex asked nobody in particular as she floated calmly after them.

Flashwing snorted and went to run after them, but Jade and Kaz joined her side.

"Hey, Flashwing, what's the matter? You've been all snappy lately," Jade murmured.

"And I'll snap more if you don't leave me alone!" Flashwing spat. Kaz flinched, stopping where he was. Flashwing glared back at him and Jade as Jade went to comfort him.

"Stupid sister," she growled, running after the others.

Flameslinger, Stealth Elf, Swarm, Sprocket, Double Trouble, and Roy also followed, but slower. Flashwing's wings were aching horribly, and she wished Spyro would get Molta and Hot Dog to stop, but she knew all too well that Spyro wouldn't let them continue on by themselves.

Flashwing was quite unaccustomed to the loneliness of her existence lately. Her rather vicious jealousy of Kaz and Jade's relationship made it nearly impossible for her to be within ten feet of them, and Dino-Rang had hurt his leg badly in the fight with Pyro, so he had been resting lately.

And of course, Ninjini was being as disagreeable as possible. All she wanted to do anymore was whip out those swords and start hacking away at whatever annoyed her. Which mostly meant Kaz. Seriously, why couldn't she just give it up? Nobody was going to listen to her, so why even bother?

"Hey, look!" Sunburn suddenly came running toward Flashwing, stopping her. "Look at that!" He said, pointing at an odd fruit hanging from a tree.

It was shaped quite strangely like a star, but… it looked like a star that had been stretched. It was yellow, and hung from a rather low branch.

"What's that?" Flashwing asked.

"Dunno! Camo said it was really good though! Wanna get some?" Sunburn asked her.

"Camo said so, huh?" Quite the contrary to common knowledge, Flashwing wasn't as blonde as she acted. "In other words, 'go up there, and try to grab it so it can explode in your face, and we can laugh', right?"

"Uh…" Sunburn blinked at her. "Darn it! Camo, I told you that wouldn't work!"

"Thought you were practicing telekinetics or whatever it is, I don't know what you're talking about!" Camo exclaimed indignantly from a few bushes nearby, startling Flashwing.

"It's telekinesis, and yes I will be practicing it!" Sunburn defended himself hotly.

"Yeah, telekinetics, that's what I said! Anyway, Flashwing, please, can you get that starfruit? I'm not kidding, those things are awesome!" Camo whined, clawing at the base of the tree. He managed to climb towards the top, but his claws would not grip and sustain his wait on the spindly little twig the starfruit was hanging from.

"I can get it for you," Kaz smiled, flying upwards. He knocked it off with his tail and smirked as it fell right on top of Flashwing.

It splattered and juice went everywhere. "Damn it, Kaz!" She exclaimed, slinging some of the yellow juice off her head. "What's your problem?"

"I dunno, what's yours?" He growled.

"Oh, shut up!" She snarled. This was going to be a _looong _walk….

* * *

_**Back at the Citadel…**_

* * *

He moved quietly through the trees, his shadow-hued scales glittering faintly as the dapples of sunlight fell on them. He stopped for a second and peeked through the trees. He had been sent here on strict business, and he had to do it right the first time…

Most of the Skylanders were sleeping, including Cynder and Riley. And close to them, Chill, Ignitor, and Zap were playing a card game. Ugh… No good. He had to get Cynder on her own.

Ah, but that'd be no problem… "_Sssttriko, collyisssto, carriessssta…_" He hissed, his voice sounding like that of nails on a chalkboard. But his hiss was low… Only Undead beings could hear it, and they had to be within a close vicinity. Much like Cynder was.

Cynder lifted her head groggily. "Huh?" She looked around. Chill glanced at her.

"Cynder, everyt'ing okay?" Chill asked.

"I just heard the weirdest noise…" She murmured.

"You were probably dreaming," Riley whispered sleepily, the cast around her front leg keeping her from moving around a lot. "Just go back to sleep."

"I wasn't just dreaming," Cynder growled.

"Right you are Cynder, right you are…" He said to himself quietly, his blue eyes following her every movement. She stretched, spreading her wings and lashing her tail momentarily. He let out the screeching low whisper again…

"_Sssttriko, collyisssto, carriessssta…_"

Cynder looked right at where he was standing and walked towards him. Chill had returned to the card game and was arguing with Zap over whether his last move had been a fair play or not, so she was too preoccupied to notice Cynder's sudden disappearance into the trees, but Riley watched Cynder closely.

Cynder walked into the trees next to him and froze when she saw him. "Who're you?" She hissed, flaring her wings.

"My name is Cadaver," the black dragon explained, smiling. He had a silver neck bracket that came down to a point on his chest, which had red scales on it. On his forehead, he had red markings that formed the Mark of the Undead, just like on Cynder's forehead…. And he knew well why. "And Cynder, there is something I have come here to tell you."

"What?" She growled, lowering her head in a brace for attack. She whipped her tail back and forth, the bladed end shimmering.

Cadaver knew she was pregnant, but he also knew that it was far too early for her to be having any sort of complications. He smiled. _Good. I don't need her losing her spunk on me,_ he grinned wider. "Cynder, I am your brother."

She gazed at him in shock. "There's no way!" She exclaimed.

"Yes, I am," he nodded. "Look at you, and then look at me. There is quite literally only one difference…"

It was true. Cadaver had three horns on either side of his head (although they were joint at the end, unlike Cynder's), and he had the same ice-blue eyes she did. The Mark of the Undead tainted his body just as it did hers. His tail also ended with a bladed point. His wings had sharp spearheads on their spines as well. His anklets and neck bracket didn't have spikes, but they were close enough. His chest and underbelly had red scales, only a few shades away from Cynder's more reddish-pink color… That was the only difference between them, really. Color.

"Liar!" Cynder spat. "You're one of them!"

"No, I am not," he growled. "When I learned of my sister I came to find her. I was told about her by an old friend in the Dragon Realms. I came here, and I was told you were a Skylander by some locals. I have been listening to some of the Skylanders around here, and I picked up that you were pregnant…" Cadaver let his voice trail off before he picked up the statement again. "Is this true?"

"Yeah, and what's it to you? Why do you care?" Cynder snarled.

"Cynder, what's going on—who's this?" Chill snapped, Ignitor, Zap, and a few other Skylanders following them.

Cadaver backed away slightly. "Like I told Cynder, I am Cadaver. I am her brother. I have come with nothing but good bidding to her. I have not ever seen her with my own eyes… We were separated at birth due to Ignitus' stupidity."

"Ignitus is the Chronicler, how dare you speak of him in such a way!" Zap gasped.

"Chronicler? I am afraid I never heard that part of the tale. I merely heard my sister was lost to Malefor's control and that she was rescued by a dragon of the name of Spyro. I came looking for them and this is where I found them," he growled. These Skylanders were beginning to test his patience…

"Cynder, I come to you with an offer to build up for all of the years we have spent apart, without knowing one another," Cadaver murmured. "But I'm afraid prying eyes cannot see or hear."

"Very well…" Cynder still had a distrustful look in her eyes. If she continued to be uncooperative, then his entire mission could go down the drain… But he'd have to try.

"Cynder, we can't let you go alone, Spyro would have our heads," Chill said, all the while glaring at Cadaver. "And besides, he could be lying. I mean, there has to be at least a few dragons out there that are similar to you in looks. What if he's the evil Undead dragon and is just trying to get you to let your guard down?" Chill pleaded.

"Leave me be, Chill, I can handle myself," Cynder said darkly. She took flight. "We'll talk on the next island over!"

"As you wish," Cadaver dipped his head. He had to stop a grin from spreading across his face. Ah, how naïve she was being…. It was refreshing. He had pulled off the first part, now for the second part…

* * *

_**Back at Sapphire Isle…**_

* * *

Flashwing still felt sticky, even though she had cleaned off most of the yellow liquid from the top of her head. Sunburn was trotting along at her side, although they hadn't spoken in the last thirty minutes.

"Are we there yet?" Camo asked.

"No," Spyro answered. Hot Dog and Molta had run themselves to the point of exhaustion and now they were slowly trudging along behind the group. They looked worse than Chill after trying to conjure one of her narwhals.

"Are we there yet?" Camo repeated, as though he had not heard Spyro.

Sunburn shot him a grin.

"No," Spyro said once more, missing the overall joke.

"Are we there yet?" Camo went on like a broken record.

"No, Camo, now please stop," Spyro looked back at him in annoyance.

"Are we there yet?" Sunburn asked.

Spyro turned around and just looked at him.

"What, you told Camo to stop, not me," Sunburn explained mischievously.

"You all are impossible," Spyro laughed, turning back around and continuing forward.

"I see the lake!" Rider said, pointing to where light broke through the trees. It wasn't like the sunlight that splashed down through the treetop canopy, but like the light at the end of a long tunnel.

Flashwing felt delighted. "Now can we go there so I can wash off my head thanks to Kaz?" She asked hopefully.

"This is serious, we have to make sure Flynn and the others are okay!" Spyro shot at her angrily. "Honestly, what is your problem lately, Flashwing?"

"I don't have a problem," she said simply.

"Good," Spyro answered just as starkly. He cautiously walked out into the open, the others carefully following him.

Flashwing stepped out of the forest canopy and was dazzled by the brightness of the sunlight. The grass was light and springy, and the lake shining its usual crystalloid blue… But what she did not expect was the huge ship—exactly that of the Dread-Yacht—to be sitting, crunched and practically destroyed, at its side.

"Flynn! Cali! Hugo!" Lightning Rod boomed, his loud voice carrying out across the land.

"L…Light... Lightning… Ro… Rod…?"

The voice was awfully faint, but Flashwing could still tell where it was coming from. "The hull!" She exclaimed. "The cannon deck, and the hull, that's where they're at!"

"What? But how?" Hot Dog cried. "The whole front end of the boat is smashed!"

"Not the inner part, stupid!" Flashwing hissed. She stood on her back legs and emitted a strong light from her crystals, causing her to spin in a circle. She spun quickly over to the ship, and leapt on it.

The ship was slanted badly. She had to dig her claws into the ground, and even then, it was hard for her to keep her footing with her crystalloid feet. She looked towards the front of the boat and realized that it, just as Hot Dog had said, had been quite literally smashed like a piece of bread. The door that led to the cannon deck was almost completely covered.

Jade, Kaz, Lightning Rod, Spyro, Jet-Vac, and Hex followed her. The door had heavy metal leaning over it.

"Hex, can you use any sort of spell to move that stuff?" Spyro asked her.

"Yes," Hex responded. "_Permoveo_!" She shouted, thrusting her arms forward as though pushing the metal itself. As she did so, the metal moved, being shoved back, crumpling the front left end even further. The boat rocked dangerously, and Flashwing nearly lost her footing, but she dug her claws in deep to a tile of old, rotted wood on the Dread-Yacht's deck.

Lightning Rod opened the hatch to the deck below. "Hello!" He shouted, his voice booming around the confined space like a rocket.

"You finally came!" Flynn's voice carried up to them, although it sounds very odd. Strangled and dry. Spyro jumped below the deck and when he flew back up, she saw just how disheveled Flynn truly was.

His clothes were in tatters, only barely clinging to him. He looked much more thin then the last time they had seen him—which had been about a week ago—and his fur looked greasy and dull. Spyro set him down, and Flynn immediately began babbling.

"Help Cali and… and… Brock… they're really… really bad…" His words came in gasps, as though he was too weak to talk.

Flashwing shot a shard into what was once the staircase that led to the game room. The shard glimmered from the side, rays shining off it. "Flynn, go lay next to that. That'll help heal you," she told him.

Flynn nodded only slightly. He staggered over to the crystal and fell next to it. He didn't move after that, except for the rise and fall of his chest.

"Jade, you shoot another shard somewhere else," Spyro ordered. "Hex, Flashwing, Lightning Rod, Jet-Vac, all of you help me get the others," he called. He jumped back down below deck.

Flashwing followed him. Unpleasant smells immediately reached her nose, making her want to gag. If they had been stuck in such a confined space for a week, then Eon knows what was on the ground she was stepping on.

The area was small. It could only be fifteen feet long and eight feet wide at the most. It was uncomfortable for them to all be squeezing into the tight space and trying to lug out their injured comrades at the same time.

Spyro must have realized this, because he told Jet-Vac to stay out of the hole for a moment.

Flashwing looked around. The front of the deck, with the opening and cannon, had been squashed. The cannon was no more than a pile of scrap metal on the floor. The ground was covered in debris, and the walls were misshapen from the strain of the rest of the ship pressing down on the small crawlspace.

But what really made her sick was not only the smell, but the way the others were sitting. Brock was slumped against the wall in an odd position, his eyes shut and his hat hanging off his head. He too looked thinner, and she could only faintly see his chest heaving with the effort to breathe. Cali was curled in a ball close by him, but she had a bloody wound on her left leg, and a bad cut over her eye. She too was breathing awfully shallowly.

Auric and Fangs were awake, but were not talking. Persephone was sprawled across their laps, and only a faint glow came from her. Fangs was gently parting her hair repeatedly with his hook, and Auric was looking at the Skylanders blankly, as though he did not remember them.

"Auric, Fangs, is everyone okay?" Spyro asked urgently.

"If you mean 'is everyone alive', then aye, ye'd be right. But ye'd be wrong in a sense because Cali's fading fast, Brock might be kicking the bucket as we speak, and Persephone's heading that way, too," as Fangs spoke, Flashwing took note of how his voice sounded like rocks scraping against one another, but that he wasn't talking in short gasps like Flynn was. He looked down at Persephone mournfully. "Persephone isn't going to last long this way."

"Don't worry," Hex murmured, floating forward. "We can fix that. But you all need to get out of this filthy hole first," she explained. "Auric? Auric, can you hear us?"

Auric looked at her. "What took you all so _long_?" He asked. "

"Long story short, the same fire lizard that shot you out of the sky kept us busy," Flashwing answered.

"We could have died, and they might still die!" Auric shouted, pointing at Persephone, Cali, and Brock.

"Shut up, Auric, they're rescuin' us now!" Fangs barked irritably. "Salty ole' gold-snatcher…"

Hex waved her arms around and Brock and Cali were levitated into the air. She floated them past and through the opening of the hatch. "Jade! Put them by some crystals pronto! They're hurt bad!" She called afterwards.

Fangs jostled Persephone, trying to wake her, but she didn't do much more than cough and blink a few times. Spyro walked over and gently picked the fairy up, her glowing 'tail' only faintly shimmering in the darkness. "I think I'll hold onto her," he said in a cracked voice, gently placing her on his back.

Flashwing watched as Spyro exited the hole, leaving only her and Hex with Auric and Fangs. Flashwing walked over to Fangs and dropped low to the ground. "Can you climb on?" She asked. Fangs smelled bad and his fur too was greasy and unkept, but it would be shameful for her to complain, as it really wasn't his fault. He had been stuck in a small room with no means of escape, food, water, or even a good bathroom, for a good week or so.

"Where's Hugo?" Hex suddenly asked. Flashwing felt guilt jab at her. She had forgotten all about Hugo, and she hadn't even realized he wasn't there!

"Hugo didn't make it into the hole in time, we've no idea where he's at," Fangs muttered. "But wherever he is, I'm sure he did better than us. Aye, we were stuck down here in a little hole, while Hugo probably went into the Game Room!"

Hex and Flashwing shared a meaningful look. Flashwing didn't want to say it out loud, but Hugo wasn't fast or strong or anything else. He was also quite smaller than an average Mabu, and if his glasses had been knocked off… Flashwing shivered. She prayed to Eon's grave that Hugo had indeed made it to the Game Room.

Hex waved her arms again and Auric was lifted into the air. "What?" He looked around dazedly, not understanding what was happening. "What's going on?"

"I'm getting you out of this filth-hole," Hex grumbled, floating out of the hole.

Flashwing bunched her legs and then sprang, Fangs ducking his head and nearly choking her trying to hold on. She clawed her way out of the hole and then dropped him.

"Where's Hugo?" Spyro asked. Persephone was no longer on his back. Flashwing saw her lying down next to Flynn, the rays of her crystal (hopefully) healing her.

"We've got no clue," Flashwing answered, gently allowing Fangs to stumble off her. He walked towards the edge of the boat's right side where Flashwing saw a green shard imbedded in the wall. Cali and Brock were lying close by as well.

"Let's check the Game Room," Spyro said, turning around.

Jet-Vac, Hex, Flashwing, and Jade all followed Spyro. Flashwing honestly didn't want to know what they could come across… And she was also afraid they wouldn't find anything at all.

Spyro abruptly stopped and then began yelling out at once. "Hugo! _Hugo_!" He went barreling past them and behind Fangs' usual Skystone playing desk. Hugo was lying on the floor, spread-eagled, with a large amount of blood coating his head. Flashwing froze to the spot. Was Hugo… was Hugo _dead_?

"Whirlwind!" Jet-Vac called, cupping his hands around his mouth. "We need your help!"

Whirlwind came running into the Game Room. "What's happened?"

"We just found Hugo, and he doesn't look good," Jet-Vac explained. Whirlwind marched past him and pushed Spyro away from Hugo, pressing her large ears to his chest. She then touched his hand with her paw, pressing around the wrist.

She sighed with relief. "He's alive, but he's had a nasty concussion, a severe one. It sent him into a coma the moment he hit his head, so my guess is the second the ship went down he hit his head on something from the force of the collision. It also caused a laceration on the side, but it didn't bleed too badly. Trust me; it looks worse than it really is."

"The desk," Hex said, pointing at the right corner. The right corner of the desk had dried bloodstains on it.

"'Looks worse than it really is'?" Spyro sputtered, sounding baffled. "He's been in a coma for a week!"

"I know…" Whirlwind bit her lower lip, looking down at Hugo. "But we'll need to heal him. I'll take him outside and put him next to one of the crystals, then I'll get to healing everybody and checking them for diseases and stuff," she yawned, as though she were getting tired just thinking about it. "Ugh… another long day…" She grabbed Hugo by the scruff and lugged him out of the Game Room.

Flashwing didn't know whether she could feel any more depressed. Four of them were close to death. Hugo, Cali, Persephone, and Brock all were in critical condition. Fangs, Flynn, and Auric seemed to be the only ones who could even talk….

"Come on, let's go, this ship is unstable," Spyro told them. He walked past them, his wings drooping. They followed in silence. Today had not been that great…

As though to emphasize Spyro's words, just as they got to the end of the stairs that led back to the main deck, the ship gave a treacherous lurch. It was like it was trying to remind them just what they were standing on. Flashwing looked for a patch of wood on the boat's deck, and found the same one she had clung to before near the hatch that led to the crawlspace. She dug her crystalloid claws deep into it, holding herself there.

"We need to get them off the boat and heal them on the ground!" Spyro called. "Grab whoever you can!"

Flashwing cautiously pulled her claws from the wood on the deck and went over to Cali, picking her up carefully by the scruff. Her head hung awkwardly, and she stayed unconscious. The angle at which her head hung made Flashwing sick to the stomach. She flew off as quickly as she could from the ship and landed on the grass.

Jet-Vac, Lightning Rod, Hex, Whirlwind, Jade, Kaz, and Spyro all landed behind her holding somebody. Lightning Rod's incredible strength made him able to hold up Brock, but he dropped the goliath drow on the ground out of exhaustion seconds later. Spyro was holding Persephone, and he gently laid her out next a rock. Flashwing put Cali down next to Persephone, while Hex dropped Auric on his feet unceremoniously. Whirlwind gently put Hugo down next to a different rock, and Jade was carrying Fangs and Kaz was carrying Flynn.

She ship teetered and shifted farther to the right. It slowly began to slip off the edge of the island.

"Are we going to do some'zing about 'ze ship?" Flameslinger asked.

"No," Spyro murmured. "We've gotten everybody, and that ship is beyond fixable."

"I… I put my… heart and soul… into that… that ship…!" Flynn exclaimed, panting.

"I'm sorry, Flynn, but we couldn't save it if we tried," Spyro dipped his head. "I'm sorry."

Just as Spyro finished his sentence, the ship fell off the edge of the island, leaving debris behind where it had just been sitting a moment ago.

"That could've been us," Fangs muttered.

"Any slower and it would have been!" Auric exclaimed, flustered.

"Calm down! Flashwing, Jade, shards!" Whirlwind ordered.

_What do I look like, a walking shard dispenser? _Flashwing thought mutinously, but she shot a shard from the end of her tail into a rock anyway. Jade did the same, but to a different rock.

They laid out the unconscious ones beneath the shards. Persephone had an entire shard to herself due to the severity of her state. Hugo did too. Flashwing was told to shoot another shard and she did, but this time, she shot it into a tree. Brock and Cali were pushed beneath that one.

Flashwing sighed and found herself staring at Kaz and Jade. What if this happened to them one day? The last thing she had done with Jade was fight… What if something bad happened, and that was the last thing they ever did, fight?

"I'll heal you three myself," Whirlwind told Flynn, Auric, and Fangs. She began firing off rainbow after rainbow at them.

Flashwing ignored what was happening. She walked over to her sister and Kaz. Jade looked at her through narrowed eyes.

"What, need to snap at us some more?" Kaz spoke before Jade had a chance to.

"No, I…I wanted to say I was sorry," Flashwing grumbled. She did not like this. Not one bit.

"No need to be," Jade practically purred, rubbing against her sister affectionately. The two sisters broke apart and then sat next to each other, Kaz awkwardly trying to sit next to Jade.

"I hope they'll be okay," Flashwing murmured.

"I'm sure they will," Jade answered.

"I sure hope so too…" Kaz's sentence trailed off. He sighed and laid down, putting his head over his front paws, his hair blocking out any view of his eyes.

Flashwing was glad to finally be able to talk with her sister again. But that shameful prickle of jealousy continued to prod her as Kaz completely ignored her and tried to get Jade to pay attention to him. He did silly little things, like touch her with his tail, or scoot up close to her…

* * *

_**Back at the Citadel…**_

* * *

Cadaver stepped carefully as he landed on the island. He recognized this island… This was the place of Thor's demise. Cynder certainly couldn't have chosen a worse spot. If he exposed Kaz, then it would all be over, and he hadn't been sent to kill Cynder.

He cursed under his breath as he approached her. Cynder looked at him through narrow eyes. "State your reason of visiting me after we've never even met," Cynder growled.

"I hear that you are a Skylander, but you are not very well trusted. I can fix that. I have mastered the undead magic, or as it is better known, dark magic. I can make them accept you for who you are. I can make sure the Brand of the Undead never blemishes your forehead ever again, or that their memory of your wrongdoings ever hurts you ever again. You're my sister. Please let me do this for you..." He pleaded. If he could just convince her that he was another one of the very few that would never judge her for what she had done in the past, then maybe she'd listen…

Her eyes returned to normal size, no longer narrowed in suspicion. "How?"

"Well, just like this," he walked towards her and put his paw out in front of hers. "Put your paw on mine."

"Like this?" Cynder put her paw on his.

"Just like that, now… _Corrissst vullikss narsssasssa!_" He roared.

Cynder screeched in pain and ducked away from him. She dug her silver claws into the ground, gasping for breath. The Brand of the Undead multiplied itself, the markings now doing all the way down her back rather than just her forehead. Her scales turned to black, and her pinkish-red underbelly turned bloodred. Her eyes stayed the same, but her wings turned to silver. Her horns grew sharper and more curved. Her neck bracket and anklets lost their spikes, and instead, shimmered with a dangerous, sleek, aerodynamic look.

She stopped crying out and panted, looking up at him. Yes! The plan had worked!

"Cynder, you are now one of us. Sonic Boom! _Ssssisst grissi_!" He snarled.

The female griffin flew down next to Cynder. "Yes, Cadaver?"

"Now, Cynder, you are one of us. You are one of the Dark Forces," Cadaver said, a smile creeping across his face. "You will fight and do whatever you can within your power to destroy the Skylanders, and the young you bear at the end of your pregnancy will do the same once they are old enough."

"As you say," Cynder dipped her head to him respectfully.

* * *

**Alright, so I wanted to announce this officially since I had it in my head for a while, but wasn't sure about it. BUT now I am. The title of the story will be changed to "Skylanders: Darkest Hour: Rise of the Dragon King" because this will be part of a trilogy collectively called "Darkest Hour".**

**And thanks for your continued support, guys!**

**EDIT: I can't even say how frustrated I am right now. On her figure, Chill has quite obviously blonde hair, but in the 3DS versions of Skylanders: Giants and in Skylanders: Cloud Patrol, you can see that her hair is blue... I've never had either, so I didn't know this until watching a few videos.**

**Why, Activision/Toys For Bob, why must you make it so confusing. ;-;**


	23. Colossal and Tidal

_**Colossal and Tidal**_

* * *

Cadaver sneaked around the Citadel like an unlucky thief who'd been nearly captured by the cops. Chill appeared to still be engrossed in the card game with the others, and Riley was the only one who was even looking around. Cynder and Sonic Boom followed behind him closely.

But something didn't feel right. Chill had made it clear she didn't trust him, and while Cadaver gave her kudos for her smart thinking, that made her a danger, a massive threat. Riley too. Riley was Cynder's best friend; she'd irritate Chill or somebody else into looking for Cynder soon enough.

Curses! Where were Hex and Fright Rider? He knew Spyro had taken a group to fly off to Sapphire Isle, these Skylanders had been babbling about it since he got there, but not once had he noticed Rider and Hex were not among them. He wasn't interested in Fright; only Rider.

Cadaver smiled. Ooh, what a fun day that had been, a year ago… Corrupting Rider. He had been one of the many creatures of the underworld that had put him through so much, quite literal, hell.

And where was Kaz? Did that idiotic hybrid think he could just waft off whenever he felt like it? Just because he was a magic dragon didn't mean he had the right to do what he pleased! Kaz could not be exposed yet… No, that would ruin the plan far too much, it would bring the plan to its knees. But Kaz had been acting an annoying fool lately, going on, and on, and on, and on about some crystal golem-dragon hybrid named Jade…

Cadaver snorted. _Hybrids, _he thought. _Disgusting species, they are. I am proud of Deu Sol for wanting to rid Skylands of them._

"NOW!" Ninjini's voice suddenly rang out.

Wrecking Ball rolled out and straight towards him. Cadaver jumped up, Cynder and Sonic Boom hissing in rage. He dashed out of the trees and into the open, Wrecking Ball continuing to roll around him and his two companions.

"How did they know I was here?!" Cadaver exclaimed, screeching furiously.

"Good question!" Cynder snarled.

"No good dark evildoers!" Storm roared, he and his siblings beating their wings tirelessly in an effort to drown them in a gust after gust of wind. Cadaver glared at them. "Fools!" He snarled.

"If we're the fools—" Zap asked, running up to him on a sea-slime-ridden path, and jumping on top of him. "Then what are you?" He bared his teeth and was shocked by his electrical tanks, three volts of electricity forcing their way out of his mouth. Only one hit Cadaver, and that was the first.

Cadaver kicked him off, throwing him halfway across the Citadel. This was not what was supposed to happen! How on Skylands did they know he was there?!

"Grab Cynder! Don't hurt her!" Chill shouted, motioning with her shield towards Cynder. Ignitor, Eruptor, and Bash shot forward, pinning her to the ground. Bash was the lead of the assault, as he was the strongest. He held Cynder to the ground tightly, and when she shot him with her lightning, just as it hadn't affected Boulder, Bash didn't even flinch.

Cadaver hissed and dove at them, only to be stopped by Drobot. "You're abilities are _insufficient_!" He droned, firing lasers at Cadaver as fast as lightning. Cadaver barely managed to flip and worm his way out of his line of fire.

He needed back up, and he needed it now. But he couldn't. Corpse could not reveal himself yet, and Agua was busy at Sapphire Isle, preparing her attack on the Skylanders there… Cadaver hissed in fury, raking his claws across the ground. He'd love to ask Pyro to send some of his annoying Pyrospawns, but ever since landing back at Dragon's Peak, he'd quite literally only said three words: "Kaz did it". After that, he clammed up, and didn't say another word.

The fool didn't even comment about Blaze having flown off and left him for dead. All he did was sit around Dragon's Peak like a parasite on its host, listening to everything everybody said. Completely unproductive!

Lost in angry thoughts, Cadaver was shot at again by Drill Sergeant's futuristic, O-shaped lasers. A deep hole was dug into his shoulder, fragmenting the bone beneath and spraying blood everywhere. Cadaver cried out and fell on his side, unable to stand on his battered leg.

"Cadaver!" Cynder and Sonic Boom both cried at the same time, although both were being restrained by Skylanders. Storm, Godspeed, Lionheart, and Hot Head were holding back Sonic Boom.

They had gotten bigger since their freeing from their curse; Sonic Boom's kids came up to about Cadaver's shoulders. But Hot Head still had to stand there to keep Sonic Boom secured. Cynder was no better. She was snapping and biting at anyone close enough and Ninjini was shooting her distrustful looks.

Cadaver, despite his name and disposition, hated, despised the sight of blood. It irritated, and slightly frightened, him to no end. So Kaz's battle style did the same. That was another reason he had not yet destroyed Thor's body, or killed Sonic Boom's kids when he had the chance… So far, all the Dragon's Peak dragons just thought it cowardice. But his immense fear of blood would be the end of him.

And now, it was pooling all around his side and neck and head, and… it was everywhere! Pouring from his shoulder like an endless faucet. Frightened and close to panic, Cadaver wrenched himself off the ground with his wings and working legs.

Sputtering angrily and out of fear, he took off into the air. He could worry about Sonic Boom and Cynder later. The Skylanders had won, he had lost, simple as that. His curse would not wear off, because Cynder and Sonic Boom no longer felt what good souls knew as "trust".

That was another thing so many were confused about… Spirits, souls, and egos were all different things. Souls and spirits were not the same things. A soul is the corruptible, changeable, touchable part of a person. However, a spirit was the essence any person knew as "personality". It calculates the state of the soul, and then, adding in the spirit's qualities, which are love, trust, yadda yadda yadda, all that mess, and then executed the result. This result was the ego, or the person's outward personality.

This made Cadaver nervous. Where did his fear of blood come from? Was that a mental thing, a spirit thing, or…? Bah! Ala and Corpse and all of the others would make him pay so dearly for managing to corrupt Cynder, but then running off because he merely saw some of his own blood!

The sound of the Skylanders yelling out victorious cries anguished him. He would definitely be in some hot water when he got back to Dragon's Peak…

* * *

_**Back at Sapphire Isle, the next day…**_

* * *

Camo yawned and unfurled his leafy tail, stretching his legs. He kneaded the ground with his front claws. He finished stretching and then bounced, looking to his right. Sunburn was there, practicing telekinetics or whatever it was, a_gain._

"Dude, what is your fascination with this telekinetic stuff, anyway?" Camo asked him, scrunching his face in distaste. He really didn't mind the telekinetics itself, but it annoyed him because it kept Sunburn busy for _hours. _How could he be an annoying idiot without Sunburn to back him up?

"Telekinesis!" Sunburn hissed, jumping up. "And you just messed me up! Something's gone down back at the Citadel, something bad, and whatever it was, Chill's _pissed._"

"Chill? Why were you trying to get into Chill's mind? Never mind, but what do you think's happening?" Camo asked, furrowing his brows.

"I have no idea because you interrupted me!" Sunburn exclaimed, irritably shaking out his feathers. "Go annoy Jade and Kaz, why don't you? I swore I heard moaning last night, and only Jade has that high pitched of a voice," Sunburn laughed, winking.

So, at least he wasn't _too _mad at Camo. Camo winked right back. "Ooh, trust me, I thought the Ghost of Sapphire Isle was true with their loudness," Camo roared in laughter. "Bah, but Zap and Chill already used that one on Flameslinger and Stealth Elf. I can't pull the same joke again, that's just lame."

"What's lame is you two standing around making jokes while we're fighting for our lives!" Auric called from across the land.

Camo glared at him contemptuously. He was beginning to be very, _very _annoyed by Auric's constant complaining. Couldn't the penny-snatching Mabu at least say 'thanks' for having been rescued from a teetering, battered ship? Huh? Was that too much to ask?

"What do you want us to say? Boo hoo?" Camo asked him.

"It'd be better than what you've all been doing lately! And I don't think Persephone's gotten any better," Auric pointed at the fairy.

She was still lying, unmoving, beneath the rock she had been placed near. Her glowing blue tail sparkled faintly, and her breaths were still coming in rigid gasps.

Camo prodded Sunburn quickly. "SB, should we get Whirlwind? The penny-pincher's right, Persephone hasn't gotten any better at all."

"I heard that!" Auric exclaimed.

"Good!" Sunburn muttered under his breath. He then gave Camo a distasteful look. "Never call me SB again, unless you want me to call you CO," Sunburn then looked at Persephone, nodding. "Yeah, she doesn't look good at all."

"And Cali's no better! Or Hugo for that matter!" Auric shouted at them.

"That's because it's only been a day, Auric," Whirlwind purred as she walked toward him, stifling a yawn from the looks of her face. She looked horribly exhausted. Auric must have kept her up half the night with his babbling about how horrible their week had been.

"If it's any consolidation, we've been attacked by a big fire lizard that nearly killed all of us, just saying," Sunburn lazily yawned to Auric, grinning at his reaction.

"Well, well! I hope you destroyed that good-for-nothing beast! What an _evil _creature! And Ermit says clouds are evil! Speaking of Ermit, we only told Spyro we were dropping him off back at Rumbletown, so how come nobody's asked about him, hmm?" Auric demanded.

"Wait, what?" Camo, Sunburn, and Whirlwind all whipped their heads to stare at him.

"Ooh, that got your attention, didn't it?! Well, before we were shot out of the sky like a faulty plane, we dropped Ermit off at Rumbletown, so no; he's not still on the ship. Thank Eon, too, because all of you would look like forgetful idiots if you did." Auric smirked as though he'd just won something.

"Will you just shut up and stop your incessant babbling?" Sunburn exclaimed. "I don't think I've ever heard anything more annoying! You're beginning to compete with Camo, and nobody's supposed to be more annoying than him!"

"Yeah, what he sai—wait, hey!" Camo elbowed Sunburn hard, glaring at him.

"Ow! I'm only joking," Sunburn grumbled. He got up and stretched. "Anyway, I'm going to go try and contact Chill again, and I swear to Eon's grave, if anybody interrupts me I'll fry you like I can troll eggs!" He shouted, stalking back off toward the trees.

"I hope he manages to master telepathy and telekinesis," Whirlwind murmured.

Camo turned to look at her. "Why?"

"Why? Think about it! We could get recon on Dragon's Peak, contact Flavius, Ramses, even Vathek, and figure out what's going on!" She jumped up, startling Auric, who began muttering mutinously to himself. She had a wild shimmer in her eye, like she had just seen something amazing and new. "We could figure out who this Deu Sol character is, what they're planning to do to us, what dragon's coming when, and—"

"Okay, I get it, geez," Camo blinked at her, unnerved. "Thanks for the rant." She scowled at him and he giggled, dashing over to the trees.

The leaves sent sunlight dappling in bits and pieces on the floor around him and him. The musky scents of the forest greeted him warmly and he sighed in content. Ah, a forest at last! About time, too!

He rushed off further into the trees. Maybe he should find some more fruit or something. If he could figure out what grows best here, he could figure out just what fruits he should attempt to grow. Bah, if only he was Ghost Roaster, then he could really make some awesome fruits and stuff!

Starfruit seemed to be common. Odd, because they usually grew in extremely hot and rainforest-like climates, and Sapphire Isle did not get too much rain year 'round. Maybe the magic Sapphire Lake was what allowed them to grow here?

He spotted apples, bananas, grapefruit, oranges, tangerines, grapes, peaches, carrots, lemons, apricots… everything grew here! It was like a fruit and vegetable hot spot! _Well then, that means it doesn't matter much what I try to grow, then, huh? _He thought proudly. _Alright then! I'll make the meanest peach Sunburn's ever seen! 'Course, he'll heat it to a crisp, but still…!_

He returned to the center of Sapphire Isle, proudly holding up some peaches, starfruit, and apples. He was happy to see that nothing had happened while he was gone. He set down his load to look around. Auric was still fussing to Whirlwind about what they had endured, and she looked as though she had heard enough of his over-exaggerated details to last her a lifetime. She also looked to be on the verge of falling asleep.

Flynn was sitting next to Cali, who was now awake, but she still looked to be in pain. But she had bandages over the wound on her leg and above her eye, so Whirlwind must have already seen to her. Flynn was talking her to death though. Instead of face-palming the entire time, she merely rolled her eyes, probably due to the cut above her eye.

Persephone was still out cold next to the rock she had been put near. Spyro was lying close to her, looking horribly saddened. Then Camo noticed something that surprised him. Was Spyro _talking _to her, even though he knew she wouldn't hear him?

Hugo too was still unconscious. Camo got the nagging feeling that if Hugo hadn't woken from his coma by then, that he might never wake up from it at all. The thought made him feel guilty, so he pushed it out of his mind immediately.

Brock was awake too. But he wasn't talking to anyone, although Sunburn was talking with him. Camo scowled at them resentfully. _So he's got time for telekinetics and Brock, but not for me? Humph… _He picked back up his batch of fruits and went over to Spyro, dropping them again as he poked the purple dragon.

He jumped, startled, and looked at Camo nervously. "Oh! Uh, hi, Camo…" He murmured, looking at Persephone. He sighed deeply and his wings drooped at his sides. "I don't think she's going to make it, to be honest with you, Camo, and I'm not getting a good feeling at all…"

"Come on, how can she be in that bad of a condition? I mean, I see Hugo as being worse, to be honest with you," Camo murmured confusedly.

Spyro shook his head. "Persephone is a life fairy. She lives off sunlight, plants, and everything like that. She loves the outdoors, and she needs them to survive, as all fairies of her kind do. In fact, that is why she couldn't—and still can't—speak our language very well. Where she comes from, she speaks a completely different language… She speaks with the plants, animals, and things of that nature," Spyro sighed, and looked down at the weakened fairy, and chuckled. "But I shouldn't doubt her so much. Maybe she doesn't have the best of language skills, but she's smart… and strong. For a fairy, anyway. I'm sure she can pull through, what was I thinking…"

Camo fidgeted nervously. He hadn't wanted to hear Spyro's feelings about Persephone. In all reality, he thought she'd be fine after she got some strength back, and that Spyro was overreacting to nothing, but he didn't want to say that. That'd be rude. Rather, he just brought up what he had intended to. "Spyro, I managed to get some fruits and stuff. Want one?"

"Sure," Spyro answered, picking up a starfruit. "I'd love one."

"Eat up!" Camo grinned. He picked up his bundle of fruits and whatnot again, and walked around, asking others what they wanted.

By the time he got to Sunburn and Brock, all that was left were peaches. Brock didn't seem interested in bickering about how everybody else got to choose before he did. He picked up one of the peaches and didn't say another word about it.

Sunburn loved peaches, so Camo knew he'd have no problem with it. He picked up the fruit with his beak and began eating it at once, almost alarmingly fast. Camo then crossed his front legs like arms, sitting on his back legs, and frowned at Sunburn.

"I thought you were working on telekinetics?" Camo asked him.

"_Telekinesis_!" Sunburn corrected him. "For the fiftieth-hundred time, telekinesis! Anyways, I was. But then Brock woke up and he didn't look all that good and I thought I'd chat with him for a bit while you were out playing with your veggies and fruits."

"Hey, I was getting stuff for us to eat!" Camo exclaimed, sounding hurt. "What's the matter with you, anyway?" Camo glared at him. "It's like you've been avoiding me, or something."

"I haven't!" Sunburn exclaimed, nearly choking on the piece of peach in his beak. He spat it out. "What on Skylands would give you that idea?!"

Camo nervously fiddled with his leafy tail, feeling stupid. Why would he have suddenly just burst like that? He should trust Sunburn more than _that_! Yeah, why on Skylands would Sunburn ignore him? They were best friends, after all!

"I'm telling you, something in that water _touched _me!" Flashwing cried.

Camo and Sunburn were saved from a rocky fight, and were happy to have something else to be looking at. Flashwing was staring at the water as though it had some odd disease, and Jade and Kaz were laughing at her.

Camo narrowed his eyes at Kaz. Spyro could say as he pleased; Kaz was too charming to be real, and though he was commonly in the back of the crowd somewhere, shouting at Ninjini to keep her trap shut, that was because he wanted her to shut up so he could figure out what Kaz was up to himself… At least he wouldn't give out clear warnings that he mistrusted and thought Kaz was evil.

"Oh, wow, there are _fish_ in the lake!" Jade mocked her sister's horror-filled voice sarcastically. "One might have accidentally brushed against my leg, ooh, how horrible!"

"Shut up!" Flashwing hit her with her wing.

"You," Jade slapped her sister back, grinning.

Flashwing chased her into the water of Sapphire Lake. They began splashing one another with the water, and Camo watched them, gaping in awe. What would it be like to have a brother? Camo often found himself wondering the question. He had no idea how on Skylands and all of the heavens his parents had… well, done "it" because last time he checked a plant and a dragon weren't very compatible.

To him, he often found a little corny cartoon playing in his mind with a daisy flower that had a face asking a green dragon whether he would take her out on a date or not. That led to a one night stand… that led to a hangover… that led to lil' miss daisy flower getting a positive pregnancy result on a rose petal toilet. Then she failed to get an abortion and dropped him off at the base of the Tree of Life.

Amazing life story, eh? Sunburn found it hilarious.

Back to Flashwing and Jade. They were wrestling one another in the water now. Sunburn suddenly darted out ahead of Camo, stopping at the edge of the water. He started pacing back and forth. "Jade! Flashwing! Get out of the water!"

"What's your problem? It was probably a fish, like Jade said," Flashwing told him.

"Yeah, have fun swimming with Leviathan, girls!" Camo laughed, smiling at himself.

"I'll pull you down in here!" Jade stuck her tongue out at him.

Flashwing was suddenly jerked underwater.

"Haha, very funny, Flashy," Jade rolled her eyes at the bubbles that appeared where her sister had gone under. Sunburn really began to panic.

"Jade! You idiot! Get her!" He exclaimed. He flew into the air, hovering over the water. "She's drowning!"

"She's playing," Jade rolled her eyes again.

Camo didn't believe she was. How could Flashwing just make herself "appear" to be being dragged underwater? Getting pulled was easy, but dragged? Nope, that was harder.

"All girls are so stubborn!" Sunburn frustratedly yelled. He dived into the water and disappeared below the surface.

Camo hated the water, it frightened him. Probably because he hung around Sunburn so much and nearly drowned once back at Leviathan Lagoon (with Leviathan after his tail to boot), but still…

Camo gaped after Sunburn, and then went to jump into the water himself, but Hex held him back. Camo kicked and squirmed. "He's part phoenix! If his wings are wet, he can't swim or fly or nothing! Let me go!" Camo shouted, kicking at Hex with his thorn-sharp claws.

"Shut up, fool!" Hex snarled. "Sunburn wasn't kidding—look at the water!"

The water was rippling dangerously. A dark shadow crossed the water, red, eye-shaped slits appearing in the water. Flashwing came sputtering to the surface, fighting with all her might towards the shore.

Jade joined her sister, helping push her along. But Sunburn was nowhere to be seen. Camo kicked at Hex harder, slapping his tail on the ground. The firecracker vines appeared and she was thrown back from the force of the exploding peppers.

He almost dove into the water again, but Spyro pushed him back, growling at him. "We'll have to get him later! Look at the water!"

Camo did as he was told ruefully. The water wasn't just rippling anymore. Now it was beginning to form a crested wave… and a big one at that.

The shadow erupted from the water with a loud splash and laugh. It was feminine, from the sound of it. Once the water cleared from the air, there, in the sky, a blue dragoness with a long, thin body and tail beat her wings against the air. Her eyes were red, but her small, yet curved horns were aquamarine colored. Her wings were dark, cerulean blue.

"Grab Hugo and all the others!" Spyro ordered.

They did as they were told. Camo weakly moved toward Persephone, due to her being nearest. He picked her up by her shirt.

She hovered in the air, smugly smiling down at them all. She had no front legs, just back legs. Her wings had sharp spines on them that Camo guessed she used to walk with, almost like Vathek.

"Sunburn is ours now!" She laughed. "Now… I hope you all can swim."

Camo hated water! Yeah, sure, he would've jumped in it for Sunburn, but otherwise, he couldn't stand it! It was wet and had waves and was just… ugh! But this dragon was not going to give them a chance to hold their noses. Camo desperately scanned the water with his eyes, wondering where Sunburn was… and whether he was even still okay.

"Now… _Ocera_!" The dragoness yelled, and the water rose in the tallest, biggest, frothing wave Camo had ever seen. The leaves on his body bushed out and he hissed, digging his claws into the ground, and dropping Persephone.

"You're such an idiot! Don't hold onto the ground or you'll drown! And pick up Persephone!" Stealth Elf hissed at him, grabbing him by the legs and wrenching his claws out of the ground. Just as she managed to do so, Camo screamed, not grabbing Persephone again, as the water bore down on them with its full might.

Camo was thrown and tossed against rocks, trees, and other various objects all across the island. He was knocked unconscious after hitting several things, due to both the breath being beaten out of him and the fact that his head was being thrown around like a softball… or baseball, he wasn't quite sure.

But after KO'ing, he knew one thing: Sunburn could not have survived this, there was no way…

He woke up awhile after, coughing and spluttering. How long had it been? He had no idea. He only vaguely remembered where he was and even what had happened. It was like a dream, a faded one.

But all at once, remembrance hit him like a ton of bricks. The water, Sunburn, Persephone, Stealth Elf, the rocks… Camo wanted to wail into the wind like a lost and abandoned child. Where on Skylands was Sunburn? And what about Persephone…? She was already weak, there was no way she survived something like that!

Guilt clawed at him deeply. He had seen her! He had her at his feet! Why didn't he just grab her? Then there was Sunburn… He could've used more of his power to barge right past Spyro and try and get Sunburn, no matter how much he hated water.

The ground around him was soggy and wet and muddy from the water. He looked around for the others. On a low-hanging tree branch a few feet away, he saw Stealth Elf draped over it like a towel. He ran over to her and knocked her off. "Stealth Elf?" He called urgently.

She spluttered and spat up water, coughing. The cloth that normally covered her face was hanging around her neck, and she only had one of her blades. "What…?" She looked around, and laid eyes on Camo.

"What's happened?" She asked.

"That dragon… She dropped a tsunami on us," Camo bit his lower lip. Where was Sunburn…? Persephone…? Hugo…? Spyro…? All the others...?

Stealth Elf got up and nodded. "I remember now… Wait, where's Flameslinger and the others? Aren't they close by?" She put her cloth back around her mouth, looking around urgently.

Camo did the same. The closest was Rider, Kaz, Flashwing, Auric, and… Persephone. Camo ignored the unconscious-lying bodies of the others. He went straight for Persephone.

She was underneath the overhangings of a bush, a rock nearby. The grass around her was wet and squishy as well, but… with another liquid other than water.

Camo felt his eyes sting. Persephone was surrounded in a pool of her own blood, her glowing tail gone, and her eyes staring vacant out at nothing. Camo got the horrible image of Persephone waking up in the water, only for her to be tossed against other objects that ended her life.

Camo backed away from her, feeling hunted with horrible guilt. Rider was helped to his feet by Stealth Elf a few feet away from Camo, holding his head. Kaz was already awake, and he looked completely untouched. Camo didn't have the heart to whip around and shout at him for being so well-protected… It wasn't his fault anyway. It was Camo's. He should have protected Persephone and he shouldn't have been so childishly fearful of the water.

Flashwing was busy muttering to herself about her wings being damaged. "Stupid water-breathing, over-grown lizard. She makes Vathek look desirable! Who does she think she is anyway, blemishing my beautiful wings? The nerve…!" The gems on her wings were chipped and cracked.

Auric was pacing back and forth, shouting out things as well. "This is insanity! First, we're stuck on some bloody ship, then, we get washed across the island by some ginormous dragon the size of the Everlast Tower! Good Heavens, this is stupid! Why did I ever even come with you Skylanders?"

"Because you wanted to nab an extra fifty gold coins or so!" Flashwing spat at him. "We haven't exactly loved your company, either!"

Camo ignored them. The horror of having lost Sunburn and Persephone burned like a hole in him. Sunburn… lost? The two words didn't make since on one sentence together.

"Where's Fright?" Rider asked, jumping to his feet, panic flaring in his eyes.

"Be paranoid later!" Stealth Elf snapped at him harshly. "He's already dead and a bone ostrich! He'll be fine, more than we will, anyway."

"That's not why I'm worried," the word's escaped Rider's lips before he could stop them. He covered his mouth with his hands, giving the Skylanders that looked at him questioningly fearful glances. Camo didn't so much as glance in his direction.

Sunburn… was gone. That was the truth. The cold, hard truth. It was as though the ground had been yanked out from under him and he was falling through one of those corny cartoon black holes.

"Camo?" Stealth Elf called to him. "Camo, you there?"

Camo looked vaguely in her direction, opening his mouth to say something, but no words came out. He sunk his claws into the watery ground. That dragon….. She'd pay! Oh, he'd make sure of that!

He narrowed his eyes, his eyes streaming. "She's going to get it!" He snarled loudly, shooting a blazing sun seed flying at nothing in particular. "_I'LL MAKE SURE OF IT_!"

* * *

**Double cross Camo and you get the Firecracker Vines. xD**

**Anyways, yeah, there's Chapter 23. Yes, I know, I was supposed to work on Frightening of Rides but my fingers refused to do so, so I did Dragon King instead. Also, I wanted to leave a few notes to some reviewers:**

_**Xshadowclawx:**_

**You leave some pretty awesome reviews, even if they're in PM and not on the official site. You really analyze the characters and even took the time to try and figure out what Thor was mouthing to Sonic Boom's kids back in... what was it... Chapter 19? Ah, who knows. xD But you are awesome, you're just as great as the others, and if you were to ever write a story and put it up, I'd definitely read it. I also like talking to you, some of those jokes... awesome, man. xD**

_**Seraph of Enigma:**_

**Been keeping up with all my fast-updating stories the whole while, never missing a single chapter. I swear, if I had the endurance of Seraph I'd read all day and night. xD I mean, keeping up with all three, Snow Quest, Rise of the Dragon King, and The Most Frightening of Rides definitely can't be easy. And the reviews left... Those look time-consuming too! It... just amazes me. xD You are awesome, never stop, and I pinky-swear that one day I WILL try to read Odyssey! *makes salute-like promise gesture thing***

_**XandyPants:**_

**I am on chapter 4 of the Truth in Your Eyes, and... wow. Very well done. 'Specially the "Lesbian in denial" joke. xD And your characterization of Cali was spot-on. You two manage to brighten my day every time and I sorta kinda stole your idea of giving little notes to reviewers, just saying... xD Anyways, yes, you are very fun to talk too-randomness everywhere, woohoo-and your reviews too show in-depth notations of the characters, events, etc. etc. Plus, the random Flame/Stealth rants are fun to read. xD**

_**Air Elemental1024:**_

**Easily the most enthusiastic reader I've met so far. I love the "is it up yet?" "is it up yet?" "is it up yet?" PMs. You are awesome, and you're writing will get better with practice, I _promise._ I will help, and weekends are the best to contact me. As well, you seem to really love the story. Keep up the awesomeness, "!", and amazing story ideas! Keep'em comin'! :D**

**All in all guys, AWESOME, KEEP IT UP! And I'll now drag my butt to go and write chapter three to the Most Frightening of Rides. xD**

**Also, if you are a fan of this story, and have kept up this far, please check the poll on my profile page!  
**


	24. The True Plan

_**The True Plan**_

* * *

Sunburn woke up with his head feeling like it weighed a ton of bricks. He was extremely cold, and the ground was soaking wet. He pulled himself to his feet and blinked his weary eyes. His wings were weighed down with water; he couldn't fly with them for a long time.

Dull memories filled his head. All he remembered was seeing Flashwing yanked beneath the water, jumping into the water after feeling an incredibly evil energy there, and then nothing… blackness… coldness…

Sunburn looked around. Something was odd about this island. It was similar to Sapphire Isle, but it wasn't it… Something about the—

"Nice to see you're awake, mixbreed," a feminine voice interrupted his thoughts.

Sunburn turned around on the soggy ground and found himself staring at a blue dragoness with green horns and gray wings. She was about the same size as Kaz or Spyro, and had dark crimson eyes.

Sunburn closed his eyes, immediately trying to probe her mind. Ugh… This was so hard… He focused hard. The blue dragoness standing in front of him. The blue dragoness standing in front of him…

"Stop that!" She snarled, smacking him with one of her front paws. She left a scratch on the side of his face, underneath his left eye. Sunburn opened his eyes and glared at her.

"Who are you?" He demanded.

"Aquamarine," she answered. "My name is Aquamarine. Now, come on," she growled.

He scoffed. "And exactly why would I follow you?"

"Because if you don't…" Aquamarine turned around and smiled. "Agua will conjure another huge, frothing tsunami. And this time, we might kill more than Persephone."

"Persephone's dead?!" Sunburn exclaimed. He dug his claws into the soggy ground beneath him and glared at her through narrowed eyes. "She never even tried to fight against you. You never even gave her a chance to join or fight against you. You didn't care. She was an innocent, but you killed her anyway. You're monsters!"

"We didn't have to give her a chance. She was a Life Fairy, with an Undead Dragon having taken over Dragon's Peak, it would only make sense for her to fight against us," Aquamarine explained. "And to be quite honest, we don't care. Now, you can come along with me, or Agua will fly off and kill more of your friends… And last I checked, Camo was willing to have himself killed for your feathery hide."

Sunburn froze. Was Camo okay? If Agua, of which he assumed was the name of the big water lizard, had hurt Camo… Anger surged through his veins. "You'd better not have touched him!" Sunburn snarled, flaring his wet wings, spattering water.

"He's fine!" Aquamarine snapped. She calmed herself and then smiled dangerously. "But that can all change in just a few seconds."

Sunburn opened his jaws, a jet stream of fire coming out in a whoosh. Aquamarine darted out of his line of fire and then knocked him to the ground, shooting water at him from her jaws.

Sunburn was even colder now. He was not supposed to be at a temperature any lower than exactly one-hundred degrees Fahrenheit… And he knew that he was far below it.

Aquamarine stood over him, smiling in a dangerous way. "Now, you can come with me in peace to Dragon's Peak, or I can kill you from hypothermia. Your choice."

"Not like it'd be any different!" Sunburn hissed, fluffing out his feathers. "Once I get to Dragon's Peak, you'll kill me anyway!"

"Don't be so sure," Aquamarine smirked.

Sunburn grudgingly got to his feet and nodded. "Fine. I'll come."

"But just so you're not tempted…" Aquamarine whipped around and shot a rod of water at him. Just as Sunburn closed his eyes in preparation to become even colder from the blast of water, the only part of his body that became any colder was around his neck. He opened his eyes and saw that, like a magical chain, the water had formed a noose around his neck, and was connected to Aquamarine's neck.

Aquamarine shook herself, smiling devilishly. "That trick I made myself. Now, if you get any ideas, I come with you, plain and simple."

Sunburn glared at her, clenching his jaw. If she wanted to take him to Dragon's Peak, she would. He wanted to see just how horrid his home had been treated since he left it.

She marched forward and spread her wings, preparing to take flight. Sunburn blinked in surprise. "I can't fly," he said. "My wings are soaking wet, thanks to you."

"Well, then, I guess you just won't be flying then, now will you?" She hissed. "Get on my back," she growled.

"You're worse than Flashwing," Sunburn muttered under his breath, getting on her back all the same. At least she was big enough for him to get on top of her without flattening her to the ground. She grunted and then took flight, the watery chain that stuck them together waving in the wind.

Sunburn watched as they passed island after island. There was the Elven Kingdom, the castle on a large island so far away Sunburn could only barely see it… The islands closer to him were actually eight isles purposely broken into different elemental areas, with the exceptional small home isle here and there.

About fifteen years ago, the elf princess, Seraphina, was stolen from where she lay in the elf kingdom. The elves had searched day and night for a long time to try and find her, but they never did. Every day, on Eleyes thirteenth, the lost elf princess's birthday, they'd release thousands, possibly millions of butterflies.

Stealth Elf's birthday was also Eleyes (or, as humans knew it, November) thirteenth, which would be coming up in just a few days' time.

It was a while before Aquamarine finally flew completely past the entire Elven Kingdom. They were flying closer to the Northern Regions. But Sunburn still found it hard to look at the snowy lands.

They were completely controlled by trolls and cyclopses now, not a single thaumaturge to be seen anywhere. When they took over, the thaumaturges scattered across Skylands. And the last few remaining thaumaturges were cold, distrustful, and quite a few bore life-long battle scars or injuries.

Chill herself hadn't exactly been a ball of sunshine when she first became a Skylander. And for some reason, she and Rider went at each other's throats for the longest of times. It wasn't until after they had been stuck on some island alone for a while that they were able to actually talk to one another without javelins being thrown or a spear being wielded.

Although, Sunburn personally thought Spyro could have done something better than shoving them on the same island and forcing them to work together. After all, it was a fifty-fifty chance; they could have started getting along, or could have killed each other in the process.

Sunburn also remembered Chill often talking about someone named Celsius a lot when she first joined the Skylanders. Now, though, she never talked about him. It was like whenever somebody asked about the person she called Celsius, she changed completely, and would become quite ferocious.

Sunburn shook his head and laughed at himself a little. He was practically flying to his death, and here he was thinking about thaumaturges, Chill, and some person he didn't even know the species of named Celsius.

Aquamarine flew towards the right, veering away from the Northern Regions. She beat her wings heavily, and Sunburn imagined she was getting tired. Sunburn hoped not; Dragon's Peak was only barely within sight, the first few islands that led to the Dragon Throne itself within view.

But what Sunburn saw as they got closer took his breath away. Darkness. The Darkness, the same Darkness that had changed Spyro, nearly destroyed Skylands two years ago, was covering Dragon's Peak in a blanket of thick, black fog.

Sunburn instinctively tried to dig his claws into something out of fear, resulting in him clawing Aquamarine.

"Hey, watch the claws, mister!" She hissed at him.

Sunburn stopped clawing her and took to simply staring at the Darkness. She landed on the first island to Dragon's Peak and threw him off her. "Now we'll call Pyro and he can take us to Deu Sol. Your powers of telepathy—"

"Telekinesis," he corrected her.

"Telepathy," Aquamarine snarled. "Telekinesis is moving things with your head. You practice telepathy. I'm so surrounded by idiots…" She ran her paw down her face exasperatedly. "Anyway, your powers of telepathy make you a threat since you have already met—and unfortunately, defeated—Ace, Thor, Geo, Boulder, Pyro, and Blaze. Thor, Geo, and Boulder are dead, but who knows, they could still be lurking around here."

"Wait, Thor's dead?" Sunburn asked her. He suspiciously narrowed his eyes. "How do you know that? Do you know who killed him?"

"Since you're going to probably be killed in order to shut you up, I guess it doesn't matter whether I tell you or not. But because I still have to take precautions, I'll simply say… it was somebody who was at the Citadel, within your ranks, for a long time," Aquamarine answered shortly. She then snorted angrily. "_Pyro! Get out here_!"

Sunburn flinched at the irritability in her voice. Pyro was blind; he was probably lost. She could at least give him a few seconds before she started yelling angrily. Distaste prickled at his paws even more.

"I swear, he's deaf as well as blind! And maybe mute too." Aquamarine exclaimed. "Pyro!"

Pyro came flying from the left, only barely missing hitting one island that came eerily close to his wing. He landed on the isle Aquamarine had called him from, and didn't say a word. His eyes looked horrible. Sunburn had to stop himself from gagging. They were clotted and filthy, dried blood still on them. Sunburn guessed nobody had cared for him at all.

"About time you got here!" Aquamarine growled. Pyro did not answer. She rolled her eyes. "And you're still not going to say a word to us, are you? I'm beginning to think he's blind, deaf, and mute," she growled, getting onto his back.

Sunburn was forced to follow, yanked forward by the watery chain that still connected him and her. The flames that were on Pyro's back died away, more than likely by Pyro's will, as they clambered on. Sunburn just hoped he didn't decide to spark them back on halfway during the flight.

Pyro spread his wide, long, red wings, and beat the air around them. Sunburn gasped and instinctively dug his claws into Pyro's scales, but the dragon made no complaint. He flew on as though nothing was wrong.

Sunburn pulled his claws out and looked at Pyro with concern. Nobody was even caring for him! He was blind, probably with infection spreading throughout his body thanks to the nasty injuries that had been left untreated on his face, and then Sunburn was sure the dragons were doing psychological damage to him as well.

Sunburn realized what he was thinking and felt guilt. He was empathizing with an enemy! Pyro was evil, he had attacked, and attempted to kill, several of them, and had been ready to take out the Core of Light when Spyro finally blinded him.

Pyro landed on a large island that was part of the chain if isles known as Dragon's Peak, where five other large dragons were sitting. Five smaller dragons were also sitting close by.

After Aquamarine and Sunburn got off him, Pyro walked towards the side and laid down, curling his tail around his body and nestling his head between his tail and body. The flames that were on his back rose back up.

Sunburn recognized Ace and Blaze right away. Ace's wings were still torn and damaged, but he looked no less malicious. He bared his teeth in Sunburn's direction, flaring his wings. Sunburn noticed something he never had before; Ace's wings didn't connect smoothly with his body like most wings did. Instead, they ended abruptly, and then Ace's thin, feather-like scales began.

Blaze stalked towards Pyro, keeping his eyes on Sunburn the entire time. He sat down once he was close enough to Pyro, proudly puffing out his chest.

"I don't know why you even still sit next to him," a large, violet dragoness sneered at Blaze. "That fool doesn't even talk anymore." She had a crimson streak of color that ran down her back behind bright pink horns. Her eyes were ocean-blue, and her wings were also blue. She had a red underbelly, though.

"Enough! We have to do with Sunburn as Deu Sol pleases," a black dragon said. He was huge, with cruel, curving and knotting horns. His eyes were white and soulless, and his voice sounded like nails on a chalkboard. He wasn't Vathek, Sunburn could tell that because he had four legs, not two. His wings were a dark, dark violet, and his underside was a sickening shade of red.

"Then somebody's going to have to ask Deu Sol what he wants done with him," a green dragoness said calmly. She had six horns on either side of her head, and they were shaped like thorns. Her eyes were pale orange, and her horns were an even paler yellow. Her wings were bright red, though her body was emerald green. Her claws were thorn-shaped as well, and looked a lot like Camo's, but Sunburn knew all too well they were far bigger than Camo's. This dragon was at least ten times their size.

"Do we need to ask?" Aquamarine asked. "I mean, really. He has telepathic powers. Deu Sol will surely want him dead?"

"Do you really want to even risk Deu Sol?" A smaller green dragoness asked, her voice soft and silky. She had teal colored eyes and four red horns on either side of her head. Her wings were long and thin, and her body was the same.

"If you all want to act like babies…" An orange-colored dragoness piped up, flaring her wings. She was just as big as the large green dragoness or the strange, large black dragon. She had oddly shaped horns though. They went up straight for about a foot or two, but then abruptly curved straight forward, and there were holes at the end of her horns. Her body was covered in a sleek, shimmering metal. Her eyes were crimson. "…then I'll go ask Deu Sol. Blade!"

A smaller dragon who appeared to be a spitting image of the large, metal-covered dragoness whipped his head up, looking straight at her. "Yes?"

"Come on, you're coming with me," she growled. She flapped her large wings, taking off into the air. Blade followed, but slower.

"In the meantime, Aquamarine, please cut your ties," the violet dragoness rolled her eyes at Aquamarine's watery chain.

"Cool it, Ala," Aquamarine growled. "I can't disconnect from him yet. He might get brave."

Ala let out a loud, booming laugh. "Brave? Aquamarine, he's surrounded by huge dragons twenty times his size. If he gets brave, he's got balls, I'll give him that."

Pyro raised his head. "Somebody's coming," he murmured.

"He finally talks and the first thing he says is 'somebody's coming'?" The black dragon scoffed. "Pyro, it's probably Techna and Blade coming back."

"No," Pyro growled gruffly. "No, it's not Techna. Too quick for them to be coming back anyway. Somebody else."

"You're right, it is!"

Sunburn looked up to see somebody he thought he'd never see ever again. The female phoenix he was staring at flared her wings wide, screeching loudly. Sunburn grinned, his eyes going as big as saucers. It was his mother! Botswan!

"I've put up with you stupid dragons destroying Dragon's Peak, Dragon Law, and everything else, but the one thing that won't happen is killing my son!" She screeched, a film of flames roaring around her. She was as big as any of the large dragons.

"Brave, isn't she?" Ala smirked. "Ah, I've needed somebody I could practice my killing hex on… _Sectudavra_!" She snarled.

Sunburn only smirked as his mother teleported away, far from being touched by Ala's curse. The female phoenix attacked Ala, sinking her claws into the dragoness's shoulders, and biting her neck.

Ala smacked the phoenix off of her, taking flight.

Pyro flared his wings, looking around wildly. "What's going on?"

"Nothing, Pyro, fly away!" The green dragoness told him, backing up to his side, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with him. Sunburn screeched and attacked Aquamarine, slashing his claws at her face.

"I've wanted to claw your face off this entire trip!" Sunburn snarled, kicking her with his claws, leaving deep scores each time. He intentionally set himself on fire, burning her every time she tried to hit him.

She screeched in pain and broke the water chain that connected them. Sunburn flew away from her and next to his mother. He felt instantly warm again, and he noticed that his wings were no water sodden with water.

She was still battling with Ala. Ala slapped her head, knocking her away for a moment. "I thought Deu Sol took care of all the phoenixes here!"

"What?" Sunburn looked back at the violet dragoness in shock. Had Deu Sol killed off all the phoenixes other than his mother…?

"Pyro!" Sunburn's mother yelled, righting herself and glaring back at Ala. "Get Sunburn and get out of here!" She cried.

"Right!" Pyro flew towards Sunburn, batting away the green dragoness as she tried to hold him back. Pyro grabbed Sunburn with his paws, taking off as fast as he could from the climactic battle.

"What's going on? Put me down!" Sunburn hissed, setting his feathers on fire again.

"Long story short, I'm your father, that phoenix is your mother, and I wasn't planning on explaining who I was so early on, but I had no choice," Pyro explained. "But right now, Ala, Techna, Corpse, Bio, Ace… they're going to be pissed about it, and I hate to think of what they're going to do with your mother…"

"Blaze is following us!" Sunburn called. He then glared up at Pyro from where he was holding him. "Then why did you try to destroy the Core of Light and hurt us?!"

"I had no choice!" Pyro snarled. "I had to prove to Deu Sol I was trustworthy! But right now, none of that matters! And let Blaze follow, he knows about me."

Sunburn had never met his father. He only knew his mother, who was a phoenix. But this was too much. And the phoenixes? What about them? Had they all been killed off except for Sunburn's mother? "What's happened to the phoenixes?" Sunburn demanded.

"Dead," Pyro said through a cracked voice. "All except you and Botswan, unless there are more living elsewhere. Your mother could be the last purebred phoenix."

"Deu Sol did what?!" Sunburn exclaimed, wide-eyed in terror. "No! No, he couldn't!"

"He can and he did," Pyro growled. "And you're going to have to direct me. Thanks to Spyro, I have no idea where I'm even going."

Sunburn looked ahead. In this direction, they'd end up in Carson Isle of the Northern Regions, controlled completely by trolls. "Go more west! You're too far east!"

Pyro steered westward slightly, beating his wings strongly. Sunburn looked back and saw Blaze catching up. The small reddish dragon caught up to Pyro, but was out of breath and panting. "Pyro… if you… if you ever… do anything like that ever… ever again… I'll turn you… to lava rock!" Blaze exclaimed, hardly able to keep up with Pyro's strong and powerful wing beats.

"Blaze, go back, and pretend I attacked you. See what's happened to Botswan, and then contact me later tonight through Pyral Mist!" Pyro called to Blaze. Blaze gaped.

"Are you out of your ever-loving mind?! Ala is smart, she'd know I was lying, and she'd have my head!" Blaze exclaimed. "Besides, what makes you think the Skylanders will accept you? Spyro will have a cow! No, forget cow, he'd have the whole damn barn!"

"Blaze, it's not up for debate, we need to know what's happened to Botswan. She could be the last phoenix alive!" Pyro pleaded. "Please?"

Sunburn felt a wild excitement suddenly ride through him. They had just knocked away all those dragons and flown off without so much as a scratch! Those dragons had been played for idiots the entire time!

Sunburn still felt worried for his mother though. Ala had said she had a killing hex… What if she used it?

Sunburn shook his head. That didn't matter now! They had to get back to the Skylanders… Sapphire Isle.

"Pyro! You know where—wait, _you're the one who shot down Flynn and his ship_!" Sunburn hissed, setting his feathers on fire. What had he been thinking? There was no way Pyro was really trying to save him! He had tried to kill Flynn and the others when there was no reason for him to!

"Sunburn, knock that off!" Pyro hissed. "I had no choice! Agua was on my tail because she had to get to Sapphire Isle to hide, she saw the ship, and dared me to shoot it down! I couldn't take any risks whatsoever! I had no choice!"

"Let me go! You still shot it down! Why should I believe you? I bet you're just trying to trick me!" Sunburn snarled.

"He's not the one tricking you, Ka—"

"Nice to see you _almost _got away with these traitors, Pyro."

Pyro stopped and Blaze did the same. Sunburn looked up from what he could see from Pyro's hold. Ala, the purple dragoness, was flapping her wings lazily in the air ahead of them, smirking, with red liquid across her jaws.

"Ala!" Pyro exclaimed. He bared his teeth only vaguely in her direction. Sunburn knew that he had no real way of knowing where she was. Sunburn called up to him, "A little more to the left!"

Pyro looked slightly more left and began charging up a fireball. "You disgust me Ala! How you treated Ace when he was hurt… That was disgusting! And how you ALL treat me, even after I'm blind… that's disgusting, too!"

"Ooh, Pyro," Ala vanished and reappeared behind them. She slapped the back of Pyro's neck with her tail, and then caught him with her clawed paws. Holding him by his neck in her right paw, she held his face to hers, and spoke in a deathly soft voice.

Sunburn had been let go, and was watching from a few feet away in horror as the scene unfolded. Blaze got to his side and shoved him. "Go! Get to the Skylanders! And make Spyro get rid of—!"

"CAN IT, BLAZE! _Sectudavra!_" She snarled, a bright red light flashing from her jaws. The bright red ball hit Blaze in the chest, and, like a faulty plane, he fell right out of the air. Sunburn dove after him, and only barely managed to grab him by the scruff.

But when he lugged the fire dragon upward, something didn't feel right. When Blaze's head slumped awkwardly to the right, Sunburn knew something wasn't right. He used his paws to align Blaze's head so he could look into the dragon's eyes, but when he did…. There was nothing.

Blaze was dead.

Ala laughed from where she was still holding Pyro, who was unable to do anything but try and scratch Ala. But that didn't do much of anything. Her scales brushed off his claws as though they were absolutely nothing. She began speaking softly and dangerously to Pyro.

"You are _nothing._ You never meant _anything_. You accomplished _nothing._ Why He and Deu Sol ever even took you in as an ally to our cause, I'll never know. And we were cruel to you. That was completely on purpose. You were useless; what else were we going to do with you? In fact, Deu Sol made a deal with me. I could kill you the second you rebelled, because, let's face it, you never put on a very good show of being one of us. You were awkward and were far too caring. To Ace, especially. Called me sick when I nearly killed the fool after Jet-Vac and whatshisface shoved him into that canyon, his wings with holes bigger than a slice Swiss cheese. As far as I'm concerned, you've always been expendable… And you see this?" Ala wiped around her mouth with her right paw, the red liquid there catching onto her paw. "This is the blood of your oh-so-precious mate, the last phoenix of her kind… She's dead, Pyro. I killed her."

Sunburn lost it then. He dropped Blaze and went diving towards Ala. He struck the side of her face, leaving a gash, and then whipped around behind her. He flared his wings, putting him in an X-like shape. He set himself on fire, the flames reaching farther than his body, creating a flaming vortex around himself.

The flames circling him were nowhere near hot enough. Ala could probably laugh and blow him off without trouble. But he did not expect Ala to do what she did next.

"Sunburn! Get out of here!" Pyro shouted. "GO!"

"Oh, shut up, with your annoying whimpering!" Ala snarled. "_Sectudavra_!"

Pyro dropped like a fly too. Sunburn did not go diving after him, though. He was too big, for one, and for another, there would be no use… The Skylanders would never know Pyro and Blaze had both died trying to get Sunburn back, or that they had tried to help them all along, although they never had managed to.

Ala turned to him. "So, you really want to tousle?" She asked him, arching a brow. "If so… then I guess I'll humor you. _Ignitus Confoundus_!" Fire began circling her in a crossed oval-shape, like opposite twins. She laughed, that same, loud, booming laugh. "I'll say this: you've got balls for fighting me! With over eight hundred years of experience under my belt, not many are quite so willing to do so."

Sunburn then got a great idea. He also knew two people who, though not eight hundred years, quite close enough experience with magic. _Ninjini and Tree Rex! Tree Rex was a tree for Eon knows how long, and then Ninjini was trapped in that bottle for forever and a half! They must know some of the spells Ala's been using!_ But at the same time, a rage in him refused to die away.

This dragoness had killed his mother, Blaze, and Pyro all in less than two hours. She had a killing hex and probably knew a spell to do anything. Was his mother really the last phoenix? If she had been… then Sunburn had to avenge her! Right…?

_No. You know you shouldn't do it. You have no reason to even be sitting there, staring at her. Ala is stronger than you are and she will destroy you. Think about Camo and the other Skylanders, Sunburn. You're practically committing suicide._

Sunburn looked up. Who was talking to him? Surely…? But it sounded so much like her! Sunburn could swear he was hearing his mother's voice. He looked around, the fire around him beginning to turn whitish-blue. But Botswan was nowhere to be seen…. Nowhere at all.

_You can't see me, Sunburn. But listen! You have to get back to the Skylanders! I can't stay forever. I have to go soon. But please listen to me! Go! Find Spyro, find the other Skylanders! And give them this message… Fire, Water, Earth, Air, Life, Undead, Magic, and Tech must join as one…_

"And what's that supposed to mean? Work together? Of course we work together!" Sunburn yelled at her. But nobody answered him this time.

He'd have to honor her last wishes. Sunburn sighed and let the flames around him die away. Ala stared at him, watching him like a hawk. Sunburn was completely alone. He couldn't get away from her! She had a killing hex, for Pete's sake!

He tentatively began backing away from her. She hissed loudly. "And just where do you think you're going? All bark and no bite? I really do hate men like that. Complete waste of time, you are. And air. And space. Useless!" She flared her wings, the flames circling her diminishing to ash and falling.

While Ala was busy shifting spells, Sunburn had a clear shot. He couldn't do anything more than hurt her to distract her long enough; he couldn't even dream of killing a dragon like her. He'd have to hurt her somehow.

There was a trick he had heard of a long time ago phoenixes could do with telekinesis… The telekinesis user would shift the opponent's blood with their mindpower, eventually torturing them to the point where they couldn't take the pain any longer and would certainly flee… If the telekinetic attacker didn't kill them first.

Sunburn still wasn't sure if he could just use telepathy! He didn't even want to attempt telekinesis! What if it went wrong…? He could end up injuring himself, or worse… But he'd have no choice.

Sunburn closed his eyes and focused in on Ala. She was an ancient breed of dragon, one that was practically never seen anymore. Known as Kalu Dragons in their time, they were basically fake rare purple dragons. They had almost all the properties of a rare purple dragon, except they could only learn one element: magic, not all eight. They could grow to monstrous proportions if they lived long enough. Although, it was odd Ala would have lived more than eight hundred years, as most Kalu Dragons didn't live past four hundred…

Sunburn focused on her blood type. In his mind's eye… He saw her in a fuzzy purple shape. The background behind her was pitch black, because Sunburn could not focus on it at the same time as Ala. He tried to delve deeper into Ala's figure… Did you know that your blood is blue, it just turns red when it hits oxygen? Well, that's what color Sunburn was seeing her blood as.

Her muscle, tendons, lungs, heart, brain, etcetera were all in different shades of blue as well. But alarmingly, her eyes were red in his mind's eye. Sunburn focused on her blood as best he could. Deep, ocean-blue, it was… He seized it with his mind, and wrenched it to the left as best as he could.

Imagine a river suddenly changing its directional flow from right to left. That's what he saw in his mind's eye, and Ala's screech filled his ears.

"Stop that!" She gasped. Sunburn didn't allow her to break his concentration. He had to put her through enough to make her leave. But he was beginning to feel a headache, and he had never managed to even use telepathy, forget telekinesis… He had no idea how long he'd be able to keep this up.

He did something that he hoped he'd never have to do ever again next. He decided he'd literally make her blood boil. He tried to put as much heat as he could in her blood with his mind's power… She really screamed at that. Sickened, Sunburn stopped. He wanted to throw up. He'd never, ever do that ever again if he could help it.

Ala was panting and her face was screwed up in pain. She beat her wings shakily, turning around and leaving.

At least she hadn't stayed, then Sunburn would've had to come up with something worse. He beat his own wings and started flying.

But he hadn't noticed the Jet Winds with Ala around. They knocked and rocked him as he tried to fly straight, eventually to the point where he just couldn't do it. His head was pounding with the force of his headache and his wings were aching from flying so much.

He looked around. There was no way he'd land in the Northern Regions. He'd be asking for trouble. He'd have to try to make it a little farther up to a small isle in the Elven Kingdom.

The wind rocking and whipping him, Sunburn hardly made it to the farthest isle of the Elven Kingdom. When he practically dropped out of the sky on the isle, he began scanning it immediately.

The grass was short and shrubby. Trees rose up all around the area, and Sunburn could see the end of the island from where he stood (which was also perilously close to an edge). Two houses were located on the island.

The place seemed oddly and eerily quiet. Sunburn padded silently over to the houses, listening for some voices. He couldn't hear any at first, but soon, voices rose from the second house.

"Someone's out t'ere! See? Look! It's t'at phoenix-dragon hybrid, isn't it?!"

"Shh, quiet! He'll hear you! His name is Sunburn!"

"Apparently, t'ey're under t'e belief t'at you are deaf," Sunburn looked at the other house. Rather than an elf, a full-grown male thaumaturge was staring at him.

Sunburn defensively raised his wings and lashed his tail. Other than Chill, the other thaumaturges he had met were highly unfriendly and annoyingly suspicious of everything. Really suits them, 'ice-heart', don't you think?

"Don't act like t'at. Somet'ing tells me you've only had negative encounters wit' our species. Don't worry; me, Paola, and Celsius are all very friendly…. Well, depends. You're not from Dragon's Peak, are you?"

Sunburn became very interested. "Why? What do you know about Dragon's Peak?"

"Not'ing except t'at some idiot dragons have taken it over. Was hoping t'e Skylanders would have beaten t'em by now, but I'm going to guess since you're here, out of breat', and bloody, t'at t'ey're more powerful t'an we originally t'ought," the thaumaturge murmured. He had thin blonde hair and blue eyes. But one of them was more milky blue than the other, and Sunburn wondered if he could even see out of it. Probably not. Most thaumaturges he met had bad injuries that were irreversible.

"They're very powerful," Sunburn murmured. "Very…" The memory of having to boil Ala's blood and wrench it in the wrong direction made his stomach churn. He felt the side of hs face with his paw, and blood from where Aquamarine had scratched him earlier painted his paw. "Do you mind if I rest here for a while? I can't get back to the others in this condition…"

"'Course not. Celsius! Paola!" He called.

"Yes, Ryan?" Another male thaumaturge, much younger than Ryan, poked his head out of the other house. His hair was short and green, and his eyes were bright aquamarine. His eyes were in perfect condition from what Sunburn could see, which was really only the left side of his face.

He came all the way out and Sunburn realized just how badly injured this thaumaturge must have been during his last fight. His right ear was pretty much gone, and his shoulder bore burn scars. His ear had been stitched and repaired as best as possible, but otherwise, he still looked like he'd come fresh from a nasty fight.

"Sunburn, t'is is Celsius. Chill may have mentioned him before," Ryan explained. "Celsius, please call Paola out. I swear, t'at girl…"

"Paola!" Celsius called back in. "What's your problem, huh? A second ago you were ready to shout to t'e world we had a phoenix-dragon hybrid on our island!"

"I'm coming, hold your horses!" The female thaumaturge had no injuries apparent on her at all. She had baby-blue hair paler than the sky, but her eyes were rich, ocean-blue. She huffed and stood next to Celsius, righting herself. "So, Sunburn, what brings you here?"

Sunburn detected a hint of suspicion in her voice. Sunburn had to stop from rolling his eyes. So many thaumaturges were suspicious and paranoid nowadays. Sunburn honestly thought they were crazy, as nobody really cared for thaumaturges now (considering most didn't even remember they existed). In fact, the only reason Sunburn had ever even heard of them was because Chill had joined the Skylanders.

Paola was likely to be one of those paranoid old badgers, in other words.

Although, hearing the younger male thaumaturge's name (Celsius) he guessed that this was the person Chill had talked about a lot whenever she first joined the Skylanders. Friend, perhaps? But Sunburn had not seen many thaumaturges living with one another after their home was taken. They were actually very bitter towards one another unless they were friends or family of some kind.

"I'm here because I just had a fight I'd rather not talk about," Sunburn murmured.

"Why? You got—Celsius, knock t'at off!" Celsius elbowed her before she could finish the question, and she glared at him afterwards.

"Ignore her," he smirked. "Paranoid old Spellian, she is. Anyways, what's up wit' you? You look like you were pulled backwards through a bramble bush."

"Close enough," Sunburn laughed a little. He was already starting to like Celsius. He seemed a bit like a goof, which Sunburn liked, considering he was one himself.

Spellians were a type of eagle in the Northern Regions.

"Celsius, you've got no room in your place. He can stay wit' me," Ryan said. He turned his eyes on Sunburn, although Sunburn was painfully aware of the one dull, silvery-blue eye Ryan had. He wanted to ask whether he was blind in it or not, but he thought that would be unkind. "I don't t'ink we should make it to open he's here. Some of t'ose Elves would love an excuse to go phoenix-hunting, as he is technically on t'eir lands, and t'ey can do wit' him as t'ey want. T'e government couldn't say anyt'ing about it and neit'er could t'e Skylanders. And even if t'ey did, all t'ey'd manage would be to start a war."

"I still wonder why we even decided to settle here," Celsius muttered dully.

"Because at t'e time we moved, your ear was hanging off and you were screaming your head off as well," Ryan answered just as dully.

"Shh, shh! He doesn't need to know all t'at!" Paola exclaimed, waving her arms wildly. "Do any of you understand anyt'ing? I swear! I say we hand him over to t'e Elves."

"I'll just sit here and pretend I don't exist…" Sunburn whispered under his breath, watching them.

"Paola, please be quiet," Celsius looked at her, and Sunburn detected slight anger from him. "He is a Skylander. What would he do wit' information about T'aumaturges?"

"I don't know, what everybody else did? We've been driven from our home once, I'd rat'er it not happen again! T'ose Elves have already forgotten we're even here! I don't want t'em to come looking for us to kick us out because we have t'at dumb phoenix-dragon… t'ing!" She crossed her arms angrily. "I'd like to live here for anot'er year before we have to leave!"

"If we get caught, we get caught!" Celsius growled. He looked back at Sunburn, and Sunburn swore he saw yearning in the male thaumaturge's eyes.

"Well, I'm not going to help protect him!" Paola shouted, stomping back into the house she had come from.

"Well, I don't t'ink anybody cares whet'er she will or not," Celsius muttered. He continued staring at Sunburn. "Sunburn, how has—?"

"Celsius, you can catch up with Sunburn about Chill later," Ryan interrupted him. "As for right now, Sunburn, come into my house… It's not much, but it's better t'an not'ing. Dumb trolls didn't leave us wit' much."

_Like I've said before, paranoid, _Sunburn thought, looking at where Paola had walked back into the house. Celsius walked in after her.

"T'ose two were once lovers," Ryan explained. "But after we were… you know, t'ey kind of lost whatever spark t'ey once had."

Sunburn was taken aback. Celsius and Paola certainly didn't act like any couple he'd ever seen. But like Ryan had said, it was due to them having been booted from their home.

Ryan led Sunburn past a shabby living room. The floor was dull and the furniture looked unkept. The walls also looked dirty. The hallway of the small house didn't look that much better. It was also dark; Sunburn found that his feathers glowed brightly—and distractingly—in the house.

Ryan opened up a door, and dust flew around the air a bit. "Bah, take no notice of t'e dust," Ryan sounded apologetic. "I'm afraid I'm not much of one for cleaning. T'at's what t'e young ones are for," he grinned.

Sunburn cracked a smile as well. He walked into the room, and though it wasn't exactly what he'd call a five-star-hotel-room (it wasn't even a two-star…) he didn't have the heart to tell Ryan that. Plus, it'd be mean. Ryan seemed like too much of a nice guy for that.

"I'll leave you to your devices now. If you need me, I'll be in t'e living room… I've managed to get quite a few new books over t'e past few weeks and I've been meaning to read t'em… As well, I might need to go help Celsius calm Paola down."

He shut the door, one last cloud of dust following the action, and Sunburn immediately dove into his own thoughts.

Were the other Skylanders okay? Sunburn had woken up soaked in water and on an island just as wet. Had the others been the same way? How would Hot Dog and Molta survive that…? They were both made up of lava and fire! Water could kill them!

And what about Hug? He had still been unconscious… Sunburn already knew Persephone was dead… He still could feel a dull throb of anger at the thought.

Sunburn then thought about Aquamarine, the hectic trip to Dragon's Peak, Pyro, Blaze, and… Ala.

That dragoness was nothing but evil. Sunburn didn't even want to think about what would happen when she attacked. He guessed there'd be a lot of _Sectudavra_s being yelled. The bright flashes of red light were still in his mind…

Then there was his mother… Botswan… Possibly the last phoenix alive… or, once alive. Sunburn hadn't been able to check whether Ala had been lying or not, due to being too busy boiling and whatnot with her blood, but the blood on her jaws… Had she crushed the life out of Botswan with those teeth?

And what about the prophecy Botswan had given him? _Fire, Water, Earth, Air, Life, Undead, Magic, and Tech must join as one…_

The Skylanders might fight with each other every now and again, but all that was done verbally, and even then, the Skylanders could still work very well with one another as long as there was a plan in place.

What about the thaumaturges? Celsius sure seemed like a goof, but he did have a serious side. Paola seemed quite paranoid and suspicious; Sunburn was used to that mentality of a thaumaturge. He and many of the other Skylanders had tried to help fight off the trolls and cyclopses as they invaded the Northern Regions a year ago, but there had simply been too many, and according to the thaumaturge law, the trolls and cyclopses had won over the land fair and square.

Sunburn snorted. The thaumaturge's way of government and law still made no sense to him. One queen and then an Honor Code? They were so old-school!

Then of course, Ryan. Ryan seemed like a very nice guy with a big heart… Poor man didn't even care that he was stuck in a lonely house all day with nothing much more than books and dust for company.

And then there was Pyro. Had he really switched sides like that? Was he really Sunburn's _father_? Sunburn wanted to just go to sleep and pretend nothing had happened… Ala's screeching replayed in his ears and Pyro and Blaze falling like flies replayed in his mind's eye.

* * *

**Yeah, so, this was a VERY fun chapter for me to write, and I promise I'll get over my thaumaturge obsession now. They'll start to only be mentioned in Snow Quest, I'm sorry, but designing their government and whatnot is fun! xD**

**Also, the name "Seraphina" being used is indeed a pointer at Seraph of Enigma's story _Odyssey._**

**I REVISED THIS CHAPTER AS OF 11:35 PM MONDAY, 9/23/13. FFN was being a douche and decided it didn't want to save my edits before I released the chapter, so yeah...**

**REVISED AGAIN AT 3:46 PM TUESDAY, 9/24/13. I think I uploaded the wrong document for this, guys... BUT be glad to note the only thing that was wrong was**** The Darkness was only mentioned when Sunburn was flying to Dragon's Peak. It is now mentioned again when Sunburn is on the islands in Dragon's Peak. As well, I wanted to say that the joke in chapter two where the wizard goes on about Harry Potter, Dumbledore, "Avada kedavra", whatever, was simply just that, a joke, and was not meant to be taken seriously... Although, with this story, I'm wondering whether it was wise to make such a joke (*little voice inside head: DUH You ain't even funny Numbuh 94!*). As well, this chapter has a lot of hidden messages in it for chapters further down the road (which is why it was so fun for me to write!) in this story. **

**EDITED MINOR-LY (that's a word, right? xD) AT 9:34 PM, I had to go back and edit the mistakes mentioned by Seraph of Enigma:**

*** Using the Earthen month names. I've made up new names and everything! :D**

*** Capitalizing "Thaumaturge", now "thaumaturge", since I wasn't about to go back and capitalize all species names...**

**I'm so sorry this will be the last time! It wasn't FFN being a douche after all, apparently, I was the idiot who uploaded the raw document version rather than the edited/fully revised version. I swear, this should be the last time!**

**YES, where Ala says "He and Deu Sol" is right, it is supposed to be that way.**

**Also, be sure to check the poll on my profile please! It's about this story.**

**Also, I realize I missed one repeated reviewer last chapter. Sowwee!**

_**Technow:**_

**Never met a guest who's able to keep up with a story before. First one. And to this fast-updating story, I swear... You are awesome, my friend, do keep it up! :D**


	25. Wham-Shell's Folly

_**Wham-Shell's Folly**_

* * *

Paola looked around. Where were those pilots? Ballooning was, like, the most profitable business in Skylands! They could at least stop by the Elven Kingdom every now and then.

Eventually she gave up searching for a balloon pilot. She shivered. Sure, she was a thaumaturge and all, but there was such a thing as too cold. Paola turned around and marched back over to her and Celsius' house.

At least it was Ryan who had to deal with Sunburn. She didn't want him here, not one bit. Elves weren't a fan of thaumaturges by any means, and since their homeland had been invaded, the elves had grown slightly friendlier to them, but by no means were they anywhere close to being friends. But she'd have to bite the bullet if she wanted to be rid of Sunburn.

She moved to the very back side of her and Celsius' house. It was still dark out, nobody was up. Good thing, too, because Celsius and Ryan would never let her get away with this. What was their problem, anyway? What part of 'we could be driven from our homeland again' didn't they get?

Celsius had already lost his left ear and his left shoulder and part of his neck was burned beyond comprehension! What more proof did he need that the rest of the world pretty much hated thaumaturges? Ryan didn't believe it either, even though he had nearly been completely blinded and had nearly been smothered to death during their last battle.

Paola didn't hate him for his need to believe the world was in peace. He was older. Forty-two, to be exact. The average lifespan for a male thaumaturge was fifty. The average lifespan for a female one was forty-five. That was usually do to how many died in battle or from diseases, etcetera, etcetera…

Sure, he was still eight years from that average lifespan, but that, in and of itself, was incredible. Paola had never known an adult to live past forty.

Paola knew they both just wanted peace, but they needed to understand that peace wasn't going to come. Nobody ever wants peace. There's always somebody who wants to stir up warfare and trouble. Like those stupid, idiotic, and insane dragons at Dragon's Peak.

She calmed herself and concentrated hard. She could ride her narwhal friend to the Water elves' mainland. That island was much bigger than their puny, two-by-eight home isle. Okay, that was a bit of an exaggeration, but… ah, whatever!

She concentrated hard again, as she had gotten sidetracked. The narwhal erupted from behind her, nearly draining all of Paola's strength. She grabbed its horn and hopped on its back, raising her shield ahead of her out of instinct.

An old trick taught to her only four short years ago, Paola had learned to ride her narwhal easily. Chill had always had trouble using Call the Narwhal. And whenever she did manage it, it always seemed to drain all the life out of her…

Paola blinked hard. She could not think about Chill now! Her schoolmate was gone, zip, zilch, gone! Gone, just like her kingdom. Chill would not return to them. She had made that extremely clear when she decided to run off after the Snow Queen was captured.

_Coward,_ she thought coldly, jumping off the narwhal once she was close enough to the mainland. The narwhal vanished in a showering splash of salty water.

She looked around. Surely that had to have woken up someone?

"What are you doing up alread—whoa, what and who are you?" A curious young elf asked. He sounded groggy at first, but Paola guessed the sight of a full-grown, thought-to-be-extinct thaumaturge must have shocked him fully awake.

"I'm Paola, and what I am is none of your business," she said heatedly. Kid or not, he had no reason to know anything about her. "Do you know of any pilots around here?"

"Yeah, there's Kinda. Say, are you one of those weird people who live on that little rock?" He asked. Paola could only barely see he had blue skin and the trademark white, pupil-less eyes of an elf. He was wearing brown clothing, and she could tell he was at least twelve.

Anger surged through her when he pointed up at her small home isle. "Yes, I live on t'at 'rock'," she spat. Of all the things he could have called it! A rock?! Really?!

"R-right, the p-pilot!" She guessed her tone must have scared him. He turned and dashed towards the end of the rows of houses.

The houses were much nicer than the ones on their home isle. They were made of wood and brick, although a few here and there were made of natural materials, such as simple wood, leaves, and sticks. Paola did not like being here. She was heavily outnumbered. Even if Ryan and Celsius would have been with her, she'd still be outnumbered, big time.

She couldn't help but to jump when a voice called to her out of the darkness. The young elf had returned with an older-looking elf. This one was still obviously of the water element, though, with the blue skin and all…

"Yes? Solfu here tells me you wanted me," he murmured, smoothing his dark cerulean hair. "I am a pilot. What can I do for you?"

"You can take me to the Skylanders Citadel, t'at's what," she said sourly, angry at herself for acting so jumpy. Ugh, Chill and Celsius had always made it look so easy. They could act cool, calm, and collected anywhere, no matter how outnumbered they were or how hostile the enemies were. Why couldn't she be like them?

Again, she shoved the thought from her mind. She couldn't be thinking of that now!

"The Skylanders Citadel?" He looked taken aback, blinking in confusion. "But why? You're one of those thaumaturges that's been living on that little home isle up there, aren't you? Well, I don't think you need to go bothering the Skylanders, now. What's going on that you need them for?"

"Nosy little elf, aren't you?" She snapped. "It's none of your business what I'm going t'ere for! I'm going because I want to, how 'bout t'at?" She crossed her arms and tapped her foot impatiently. "I haven't got all day!"

"Well, you did come here and wake us up," the smaller elf, Solfu, muttered. "You could at least say thanks."

"T'anks for what?" Paola wanted to tell him just what she had seen in her life and what had happened, but she held her tongue. He was too arrogant and young to have any idea how. But when she was twelve, she knew all about honesty, respect, integrity, and… never mind…

"Never mind that, Solfu. Come on, er…" The older elf looked her up and down. "What's your name?"

"What's it to you?" She snapped.

"Said her name was Paola to me," Solfu said, running back into his house when Paola glared down at him angrily.

"So, is it Paola?" The older elf asked. "I guess I should say who I am. My name is—"

"Kinda, I know, t'e midget elf told me," Paola spat. She didn't want to hear anything from him. She just wanted to go to the Skylanders so she could go home and have life go back to normal. Or, as normal as it could be.

"You're not very nice," Kinda said flatly.

"I'm not trying to be," Paola answered straight away. She wasn't, in all honesty. She really didn't care whether this elf thought she was nice or not.

"Well, you might want to start," he muttered. "Not everyone's as nice as I am. Come on, then."

She said nothing as he led her away towards the edge of the town. Some other curious elves were peeking out of their houses. There was a shimmering blue creek beside one of the houses. Kinda led her over to a red and yellow balloon tied down to a wooden dock. It fluttered gently in the breeze.

"First, you're going to prove to me t'at balloon isn't a trap," Paola growled once they drew nearer. Kinda was behind her, not in front of her, and she didn't like it. "You first."

"You're treating me like I'm a threat to you on my home soil," Kinda said, walking ahead of her and throwing her a look of disgust. "What for?"

"Because t'at's just how I work," Paola spat.

He rolled his eyes and walked onto the balloon's cab. He turned around and looked at her, his hands on his hips. Paola swore he was stifling a chuckle at her level of suspicion. "This enough proof for you, Miss Icy Britches?"

"Whatever," she growled, getting onto his balloon. She didn't like being in such a close proximity with this elf. She hardly knew him. In fact, all she knew was he was a balloonist named Kinda. As far as Paola was concerned, he was just waiting for the right moment to knock her unconscious and mug her.

"Why is it you are so unkind?" He asked as they floated away from the dock. "I mean, we haven't even said anything to you thaumaturges when you took up residence on that small home isle. Sure, we noticed more activity up there than usual, but we didn't say anything. We all felt sorry for—"

That was a huge mistake he wouldn't dare make ever again. "Sorry? Excuse me, but it sounded to me like you were trying to say you were sorry for t'e loss of t'e Snow Queen," Paola whispered, deathly soft.

Kinda must have realized his mistake. But none too soon. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean it like that—Really, now, I didn't."

"You never say you feel sorry for a t'aumaturge, do you hear me?" Paola stood in front of him, pointing her fingers at his chest. He was taller, as Paola had always been insanely short, but her short stature seemed to make her all the more terrifying. "Never. We are not broken. We came back once; we'll do it again! I don't care what you t'ink, you can t'ink all you want t'at we're broken and hopeless and a lost cause, but I promise you, we're _NOT_! We'll come back stronger, and when we do, t'e Elven Kingdom can be t'e first place we go to attack!"

With that, she whipped back around and stood, her arms crossed angrily, flicking her hand back and forth in an annoyed way. Chill had once said it looked like an annoyed cat's tail flicking.

"R-right…" Kinda looked shaken. "Of course…" He turned and looked around. "We're still a ways away from the Citadel… Oh, but look there!" He suddenly pointed down at a heavily forested isle with a strange, ashen imprint next to a large, shimmering, sapphire-blue lake. "That's Sapphire Isle. But look by the water's edge!"

Paola did as she was told. Looking down, she saw several Skylanders gathered by the water's edge. Two were fire-covered, dog-looking creatures. Another was a green-skinned elf with his blue hair up in a ponytail. A tan-furred Mabu with an aviator's cap and tattered clothing was sitting close by, talking to the elf. A skeletal creature that looked like an overgrown bird was gnawing at the grass on the ground. Then there was the purple dragon Paola knew as Spyro. Who didn't know Spyro?

"Drop me off here. T'at's Spyro, it was him I needed to talk to," Paola had long since learned that Spyro was the leader of the Skylanders. Hell, he had been their leader since she was fourteen.

"No problem there," Kinda muttered, lowering the balloon. He landed it roughly, close to the water.

Paola gladly hopped out of the cab, glaring back behind her. Grudgingly, she muttered her thanks, although she knew she had said it too inaudibly for him to hear. He gave her a sloppy salute and high-tailed it out of there.

"Wait—wait—how am I going to get back?" She asked aloud once she realized he was leaving.

"You can take care of yourself! You're a bitch on wheels!" He called down to her as he floated off.

"Bitch on wheels!" The green-skinned elf laughed. "I'll 'ave to remember to use 'zat one on Steal'z Elf!"

"Ignore him," Spyro said, rolling his red eyes. He walked up to Paola, his head raised. "Yes?"

"Come and get Sunburn! You can all have him!" She exclaimed. "He'll be not'ing but trouble to us!"

"Wait, where is Sunburn?" Spyro's eyes went wide and he flared his wings in interest. He blinked, obviously intrigued, the other Skylanders sitting around him, leaning in to listen closely. "We were separated after some dragon dropped a wave on us… Let me introduce you to these guys," Spyro said before she could continue.

"Flameslinger," he said, pointing to the elf. He put his finger under his nose and wiggled it. Paola blinked confusedly, wondering what that joke was supposed to be… Or whether it was a joke at all. Her muscles tensed automatically.

"Hot Dog," Spyro flicked his tail towards the red fire dog sitting behind him. He had a bronze collar and reddish-orange eyes. His tail blazed with yellow flames.

"Molta," Spyro pointed with his paw at the yellow fire dog. This one had a coal-black collar and blazing tail as well, but his tail was redder in color.

"Fright," Spyro pointed to the birdlike creature eating the grass.

"And that's Flynn," Spyro nodded towards the Mabu.

"Isn't he a pilot?" She asked, looking Flynn up and down. "He really should tidy himself up."

"Of course you would say that! You don't even know what I've been through!" Flynn shouted at her. He then smoothed his voice's tone. "And yes, I am the most famous pilot in Skylands. And Cali says nobody recognizes me."

"Of course I don't know, and I honestly don't care. I just want Spyro here to come and get his phoenix-dragon hybrid before t'e bounty hunters do! I'd rat'er t'ey go after Sunburn somewhere else t'an our home isle. I've been driven from my home once, it's not about to happen again!" She stamped her foot. "Understand, purple boy?"

"Racist," Flameslinger muttered.

"All thaumaturges are," Flynn muttered as well.

Paola's face flushed slightly red, but she ignored them. For some reason, her species had so many rumors and untrue things said about it. Just further proof that nobody cared about the thaumaturge race.

"Quiet, guys," Spyro told them. He looked up at Paola. "We're sorry if he's caused any trouble. But we need to find the other Skylanders before we can go anywhere to get him."

"Oh, t'is is just great!" Paola exclaimed, huffing as she sat down. She was now shorter than Spyro. "Well, what do we have to do to find t'em? T'is island is huge!"

"You 'zink we don't know 'zat?" Flameslinger asked, raising a brow above his blindfold. Paola didn't notice that he was blindfolded until then. She blinked in surprise.

"Are you blind?" She asked him, only mildly interested.

"Down to 'ze point, isn't she?" He laughed. "No, I'm not blind."

"T'en why do you wear t'at?" Paola asked again, ignoring his comment.

"Because I can," he smirked, crossing his arms.

* * *

_**At the Citadel…**_

* * *

Wham-Shell watched Cynder from where he sat next to the bramble thicket. Ghost Roaster was sitting perilously close to her. He had used his mace as a weight, attaching her anklets to his chain. Ninjini had put a spell around him to protect him from Cynder though.

Ninjini, however, was making an all-out verbal assault against Chill for having them attack Cadaver like that yesterday.

"Chill, that was insane! Cynder could have killed some of us! Her lightning isn't anything to sneeze at!" Ninjini exclaimed. Her ponytail was swaying behind her in the breeze, the curls in it causing it to twirl oddly. Her new bottle was clinking against her back.

Chill clenched her fists and turned around, glaring at Ninjini. She looked almost frightening. "Ninjini, please do us all a favor and SHUT UP!" She yelled. "I've heard enough from you to last me a lifetime! We all know you're paranoid about Cynder, you don't have to shout about it! Good Eon's grave!" She marched over to Zap, who was guarding Sonic Boom.

Sonic Boom was trapped on Cali's porch. Sparx was flapping around it. He came to a stop next to Zap.

"Know where Spyro is?" He asked.

"You know where he is, Sparx. Still at Sapphire Isle," Zap murmured. "Maybe you should fly out there to see if he's okay?"

"Yeah, that big purple buffoon wouldn't have ever made it past Malefor without MY help!" Sparx puffed out his chest proudly. "Now, I'll be off!"

"Watch for the Jet Winds!" Warnado shouted after him from next to the Tree of Life, Dino-Rang and Wrecking Ball sitting next to him. Or, Dino-Rang was sitting. Wrecking Ball was hopping around distractingly. "Those winds are a true enemy."

Ninjini whirled around and floated over to Tree Rex. The tree mutant looked down at her. "What's your problem anyway?" He asked her.

She was biting her lower lip and huddling down beneath him. She almost looked to be cowering. Wham-Shell thought it was a most odd sight. He only ever saw Ninjini with her swords drawn—or her lips, which were just as sharp.

Suited her, though, sitting there on the ground like that. But Tree Rex looked confused. "Ninjini, what're you doing?"

"Sitting," she said. She abruptly stopped 'cowering' and just sort of sat there, the smoke around her feet vanishing. She stared at nothing, blinking every now and again, as though deep in conscious thought.

Tree Rex tapped her shoulder. "Hello? Ninjini?"

"What?" She looked back up at him. "I'm having a moment here, do you mind?"

"Okay…" Tree Rex shook his head. "I won't even try to figure out what that means…"

Wham-Shell elbowed Slam Bam sitting next to him. "What do you think Ninjini's problem is?"

"Brain damage, literally," Slam Bam laughed. "She had a concussion, remember?"

"Oh," Wham-Shell muttered. "Right."

"Somethin' ain't right," Gill Grunt whispered from about three feet away, fiddling nervously with his harpoon gun. "Surely Spyro would'a sent a message or somethin' back by now…?"

Wham-Shell got up and walked over to him. "Dunno, buddy. Remember that Cadaver dude?"

"Who wouldn't?" Gill Grunt didn't look away from his harpooner, and continued fiddling with it. "Yeah, I remember him. Spyro's gonna be mad about that… Ugh, I don't even wanna imagine it…"

"Thought you weren't friends with Spyro anymore?" Wham-Shell rolled his eyes. Gill Grunt and Spyro were so _backwards_. Was it really that big of a deal whether Spyro believed him about Kaz or not? Kaz was just a little, annoying, black-haired dragon. If he was evil, Spyro could take him out in a heartbeat if he wanted to. Nothing to get all upset about, geez. One day, Spyro and Gill Grunt were best friends, laughing about the defeat of a mortal enemy, then the next they were at each other's throats over Kaz, A.K.A. 'Dusky Hair', as Gill Grunt liked to call him.

"Friends, not friends, it doesn't matter," Gill Grunt said flatly. "Girlfriend's probably dead, Spyro's gone stubborn, and Trig don't want nothin' to do with me." He got up and walked over towards the staircase that led to the beach. The water in his jetpack jiggled from the motion and he let his harpooner drag on the ground.

"Well, he's certainly being a ray of sunshine today, isn't he?" Slam Bam chuckled.

"You could laugh at anything, couldn't you?" Wham-Shell asked him irritably. "He's obviously depressed, you moron. When I was king for a while, I learned that being depressed can mess up the judgment of oneself. I don't think it'd be wise to leave him that way."

It was true… When Wham-Shell's father, the former king of his underwater utopia, had been killed, he had been depressed for weeks. It fogged his judgment and nearly cost him his mother as well, whom he ordered, out of sadness and anger, to a faraway place in the sea that was dangerously close to a volatile gillman settlement. The settlement was newer, and the leader of that settlement was proud and haughty, and wouldn't take help from anybody…

"You're speaking Gibberish, just so you know," Slam Bam said, but then he cleared his throat. "Okay, okay, okay. We'll go talk to him. But Spyro was like this a week or two ago and he was like an attack dog. Won't we just be annoying him if we keep trying to get him to talk about whatever his problem is?"

"Maybe, but it might make him feel somewhat better… I just hate seeing him like this," Wham-Shell sighed. He then snapped his fingers. "Hey! I know! You know how Gill Grunt keeps talking about this mermaid girlfriend of his—however unlikely that seems—right? Maybe we could try to find her!"

"Hello? Have you gone insane? Gill Grunt searched for months and he never found her! This isn't some story where we just miraculously come up with some stupid plan and end up finding the girl," Slam Bam rolled his eyes.

"Actually, that's exactly what this is…" Wham-Shell murmured, blinking blankly.

"Never mind that! Well… If we're going to find Gill's girl, we're going to need to know where she was last. Do you remember?" Slam Bam asked, crossing his two sets of arms.

"Said the last time he saw her was in a misty lagoon. He said some pirates took her. Wait a second…The Phantom Tide! Oh, my word! Thumpback!" Wham-Shell slapped himself in the face he felt so stupid. The old pirate crew Thumpback had been with, the Phantom Tide! What if they had kidnapped the mermaid?

Thumpback was talking with Hot Head near the very edge of the Citadel. Something about… oh boy. What a 'lively' conversation they were having.

"I'm telling you, Scarlett was all over me that day," Hot Head pointed a finger at Thumpback's chest, emphasizing his point.

"You're really sick, you know that? Scarlett's dead, and here you are talking about when you two were 'dating', although to me, it sounds more like friends with benefits," Thumpback punched Hot Head in the shoulder lightly.

"Hey, not my fault Geo or Boulder went all trigger happy with their sandballs," Hot Head shrugged. "I'm as sorry as the next guy about Scarlett, but—"

"Shh, Hot Head. Wham-Shell?" When Thumpback heard Wham-Shell call his name he looked over. Wham-Shell went sprinting across the Citadel, barely managing to get around the Core of Light he was trying to run so fast.

"Thumpback!" He called. "I need to ask you… Ask you about the Phantom Tide!" He panted, coming to a stop in front of Thumpback.

"The Phantom Tide?!" Thumpback exclaimed in alarm. "What do you need to know about the Phantom Tide?"

"Where did they go?" Wham-Shell asked urgently, ignoring Thumpback's obvious discomfort.

"They're in the Chest of Exile right now. You guys never battled 'em, but me and most of the Giants had to fight them off," Thumpback's voice grew very solemn. "I should have never even joined that dumb pirate crew. It was nothing but trouble from the start. In the end, it only got others hurt…"

"Thumpback, it's no big deal. We kicked their salty—"

Wham-Shell cut Hot Head off. "Are you both insane?" He shook his head, his mace swaying in his arms. "They might have Gill's girlfriend! You know, the mermaid from the misty lagoon, yadda yadda yadda, all that mess!"

"Wait, what?" Hot Head perked up. "I thought he found her?"

"No, he didn't," Slam Bam caught up with Wham-Shell, panting. "Wham-Shell, where'd you get the sudden inspiration? Anyway, we need to know how to get to the Chest of Exile."

"Wouldn't we normally need to ask Spyro about this?" Thumpback murmured.

"He's not here right now," Wham-Shell tapped his foot impatiently. "And I'm trying to help Gill. So, please do help us!"

"Fine, fine! The Chest of Exile. He's locked away in that. We can't go barging into the Chest, we'd have to open it up and everything, and then Captain Frightbeard would be loose and the whole mess would start all over again!" Thumpback waved his arms. "No, no, and no again. It's too dangerous. I hate to have to tell Gill all this, but I don't think now would be the right time… or place. And besides, do you even know for sure whether this mermaid's even with the Phantom Tide?"

Wham-Shell was stubborn. When he was king, he had gotten used to getting what he wanted. And now, he wanted to help Gill. Whether Thumpback would help him or not, he WOULD find a way to get into that Chest.

"Okay, never mind," he said quietly, pretending to agree. "Okay. I guess we'll go with that."

Hot Head, Thumpback, and Slam Bam blinked at him as he 'calmly' walked away, back towards the bramble thicket he and Slam Bam had been sitting next to. He'd help Gill. But it wouldn't be now.

He'd have to break open the Chest of Exile, releasing Captain Frightbeard in the process, in order to find this mermaid… Gill Grunt had better be thankful!

* * *

_**At Sapphire Isle…**_

* * *

Kaz moved from tree to tree swiftly, looking behind him nervously every few seconds. He had to make sure nobody was following him. He had to contact Ala and talk to her. Ooh, he hadn't talked to her in a day; she was going to be pissed…

But as he got nearer and nearer to Sapphire Lake, he heard voices. Bah! The damn Skylanders got thrown all across the island! They were everywhere! He turned himself invisible, moving insubstantially up a tree to listen to the conversation.

"I'll fly around the island and see if I can find some of the others," Spyro was saying. "Could you stay here with Hot Dog, Molta, Fright, and Flameslinger?"

Well, that answered the question of where Fright was. Rider had been acting extremely odd before Kaz had stolen away from the main group. He was twitchy and jumpy, and while Jade had snickered and told him it was probably symptoms of withdrawal since he didn't have any more booze with him, Kaz didn't think that was the real culprit. It could have been a side-cause, but Kaz honestly thought it was due to him being separated from Fright.

"Fine, fine, I'll stay!" A feminine voice he didn't recognize growled. "I'll stay here wit' t'em. But I'm not staying for too long!"

"Euh, 'vou don't really 'ave a choice…" Flameslinger murmured.

Kaz moved some of the leaves blocking his vision carefully. He couldn't make himself too well-known. If Flameslinger so much as blinked in his direction, the Fire elf would recognize his heat signature. And he didn't want to be found out.

Flameslinger was standing behind a female thaumaturge that wasn't Chill, and Hot Dog and Molta were play-fighting with one another close to Sapphire Lake. Fright was lying down close to a clump of bushes, peacefully snoozing.

The thaumaturge looked very jumpy. Flameslinger moved past her and she physically tensed, as though ready to hit him if he came any closer. Spyro was hovering in the air in front of the thaumaturge. "I'll be right back, okay?"

"Whatever," she said through gritted teeth.

Spyro chuckled a little and then turned around, flying dangerously close to where Kaz was hiding. Kaz flattened himself as best he could to the branch he was clinging to, hoping against all hope Spyro wouldn't notice him. He knew he was invisible, but Spyro was a Magic element… Who knew what he could do?

After Spyro was out of view, Kaz gingerly stepped down from the tree. He froze when he heard a rustling in the bushes. When he looked at the bushes, he didn't see anything there. His subconscious was telling him it wasn't, but he decided it must have been a rabbit or mouse of some kind.

He walked deeper into the forest, making himself visible again. He kept his eyes peeled and hearing sharp so he didn't blindly alert a Skylander to his presence. He had no reason to be sneaking off as far as they were concerned. His position was thin as it was; he didn't need any more suspicion stacking against him.

He came to a stop at a tall, wide tree. It had apples hanging from its higher branches, and some of its leaves were beginning to change to reds, yellows, and oranges for the season of falling leaves (or, as the humans know it, 'autumn').

He tapped the tree in an odd pattern. The pattern was P-shaped, then X-shaped. It did stand for something… The 'P' like pattern stood for 'Purist'. Kaz and the other Dragon's Peak dragons were purists. They were trying to cleanse Skylands of halfbreeds and breeds of all kinds except dragons, and two other races Kaz did not know of yet. The 'X' stood for _Xonac_, which was the breed of dragon Deu Sol was.

Xonacs were an ancient type of dragon. Deu Sol, in fact, was the last of his kind.

"You're late, Kaz," Ala spat. She sounded more bad-tempered than usual.

"I know," he said apologetically. "I'm sorry. I never meant to take so long. After Agua washed us all out, I had to lose Jade in order to contact anyone."

"It seems like you failed at that," Ala growled.

Kaz froze rigid, his breath catching in his throat. "Wh-what do you mean?" He whispered scarcely.

"She's right behind you."

Kaz turned around. Jade was indeed behind him. Her slate-colored eyes were wide in horror and her wings were flared in an exaggerated gaping expression. She spoke in such a soft whisper Kaz wondered whether he'd even be able to understand her… But unfortunately, he did.

"Y-y-you're one of th-them!" She shook her head, as though hoping her eyes were failing her. "Gill Grunt, Trigger Happy, Ninjini, Scarlett—they were all right!" She backed away in horror.

Kaz flicked his tail, beginning to panic. Ala would expect him to attack and kill her, maybe as brutally as that Mabu girl…

Pain skyrocketed in his chest. Not physical pain of any kind, for he knew what that felt like, but… something different. He didn't recognize this sort of pain. It was most peculiar…

"Kill her, Kaz!" Ala spat. "She knows about you and me! She cannot be allowed to live any more than Sunburn can! She could bring our entire network to its knees now!" In her holographic form, Ala's spells made no difference. Kaz was very glad she wasn't there.

Kaz slowly stepped toward Jade, feeling cold. It was like he was in another world, looking through someone else's eyes as he walked towards her.

"What're you doing, Kaz?" Ala asked. "Don't be a fool!"

Kaz gulped. But… but how? How had she…? How had he not…? Oh, he had been such a fool!

Jade backed against a tree and looked up at him, her eyes welling in tears. "You're just another one of them…. Another monster… You're the one who killed Scarlett!"

The realization and pain in her voice made his chest ache in a way he didn't understand yet again. It wasn't physical pain, like that of being unable to breathe, but… It almost felt like his heart hurt.

"What are you waiting for? Do it. I know you know the same spells I do, Kaz. You could kill her in one blow of you wanted to."

That was true… Kaz knew the killing hex too. But he never used it because he usually enjoyed torturing his victims…

But… Not her… Not Jade…

But Ala was behind him, edging him on. He'd have no choice… right? Jade continued to stare at him, as though waiting to see a decision made in his reddish-pink eyes.

No! No, he would not! He pressed his paws to her shoulders, and she clenched her eyes shut, cowering, as though preparing for a grisly end. He yelled at the top of his lungs, "Go, get! Get out of here! Get far away! I don't care where, but don't you dare go back to the Citadel! Run! Get away from here!" He threw her to the side, away from the tree. "Go, now!"

"But… what?" She looked confused. "But you're…"

"I know what I am and I don't honestly give a fuck right now! Go, before I change my mind!" He spat, flaring his wings. Of course he wouldn't change his mind, but she didn't need to know that. He had only made love to her the night before… The conversation about possibly having children was still fresh in his mind.

Ala had ruined all of that.

Jade turned and ran at full speed. She'd have to use the remaining sunlight to get as far from Sapphire Isle as she could.

"Kaz, you've jeopardized everything!" Ala hissed.

Kaz practically melted to the grown. "I know…"

"You will have to deal with her…" Ala's sudden sincerity caught him off guard. He turned and looked at her. Her holographic image was terrifyingly accurate. She was sitting, her tail curled around her, and her wings folded at her sides. Her eyes were nearly closed, and she almost looked sorrowful. "Kaz, I don't like to have to be so rude and mean to you. But we cannot care. We simply do not have room for caring or loving or whatever else of that nature with our goals. It's simply not going to fit. How are you going to deal with her?"

Kaz was completely speechless. He sputtered Gibberish for a few seconds before speaking actual words. "I… I'll keep her away from the Skylanders… I'll do it somehow."

"Will you continue the mission?"

"The mission to destroy the Skylanders? Of course. Of course I will," he nodded vigorously.

"I'll need you to prove that to me. Deu Sol has had growing concern about Flameslinger. He has the ability to see faraway places using his power over fire signatures…" Ala paused. "Prove to me that you're not feeding me lies. Kill Flameslinger, and contact me while the Skylanders are mourning so I can see."

With that, she faded, her hologram gone. Kaz stood there, speechless. So, Ala wasn't going to kill him… But he'd have to prove himself to her, or she'd tell Deu Sol what he'd done and it would all be over.

But Flameslinger would be extremely hard to get alone… He certainly wasn't an oblivious one. With a blindfold constantly over his eyes, he had to have gotten more vigilant… Kaz determinedly narrowed his eyes. He'd have to take out Flameslinger whenever he could. First, he had to make sure Jade had gone, and that she wasn't coming back… Even if that meant breaking her trust in him worse than he already had.

_**At the Citadel…**_

The sky was black. Stars glittered overhead. It was time he put his plan in motion. Whether the others liked it or not, Wham-Shell was not going to see Gill Grunt so depressed anymore, and if that meant going against everyone else, then so be it.

He made sure he didn't wake Slam Bam as he tiptoed away from the brambles. Zap was sleeping next to the staircase, Chill in the crook of his two legs, his tail wrapped around her. She was curled into a ball. They looked snug and cute and all, but they were covering almost the entire entrance to the beach.

"Ugh, of all the times they have to be snuggy-lovey-dovey and crud they have to block the stairwell," Wham-Shell grumbled, picking his way carefully past them. He paused with bated breath when he accidentally kicked Zap's nose.

The water dragon gave a small half-cough, half-sneeze, but did not wake up. He rubbed his nose in his sleep and moved a little, but his eyes never opened. Wham-Shell breathed a sigh of relief.

He ran past them and down onto the beach. Gill Grunt was curled up in the sand, Trigger Happy some few feet away. Odd, because he knew Gill had had a fallout with Trig recently too. Maybe Trigger Happy had lain down next to him after Gill Grunt had fallen asleep?

Wham-Shell couldn't think about that right now. He'd have to go into the water and use the Whirlpool Chain to find the Chest of Exile.

As he was slipping into the water, he didn't realize that Riley was laying down close to the water, awake, until it was far too late. The water dragoness gave a snort to let him know she was there.

He nearly jumped out of his skin and looked at her in annoyance. "What?" He demanded.

"Where are you going?" She asked. She still had a cast on, but it wasn't as thick as before, and she could put some pressure on her foot. She blinked her bright red eyes.

Wham-Shell's heart began pumping almost right away. Oh, he'd never say it around Zap or anyone else, but he thought Riley was beautiful. She had little horn-like bumps under her eyes that looked like freckles and her horns curved so smoothly… Then she was so much more streamlined than Zap was… How did Zap get Chill so easily, anyway? Ugh!

"I, uh…" His mind began racing for an excuse. "I—I was going for a midnight swim. Yes, that was it."

"Midnight swim? Can I come? Nobody'll let me near the water because they think it'll mess up my leg or something," Riley blinked up at him innocently.

_Riley, this is not the time! _He thought agitatedly. But he had no reason to say 'no', and saying so would more than likely make her suspicious. He sighed. "Fine," he muttered. "Come on. I might as well tell you where I'm really going while I'm at it."

"I knew it wasn't just a midnight swim!" She went to jump to her feet, but must have remembered her leg, because she held it up delicately so she didn't smash it. "So, we're leaving now?" She sounded excited.

"Of course we're leaving now," Wham-Shell rolled his eyes. "Come on, into the water we go."

With that, they marched off into the water depths. Wham-Shell had gills he could use to breathe underwater, but Riley had said that she needed one breath of air per hour under water.

Pretty impressive, if Wham-Shell did say so himself. Although he could breathe air, he didn't need it.

"We're looking for whirlpools," he told her once they were under the water, walking along the sandy ocean floor. "There are certain ones that I know will take me to the Chest of Exile. I didn't know the Phantom Tide crew and whatever were in it until today, but I'd heard legends about it," Wham-Shell told her as they moved along. A crab and a few schools of small, silvery fish passed by them. "Are you sure you still want to go? It could be dangerous."

"Of course I'm going!" Riley exclaimed, sounding offended. "I'm going and that's that, broken leg or not."

He grinned. "Ha, alright then."

"How long will this take?" Riley asked him, nudging along a small turtle. Its flipper was caught beneath a medium-sized rock. As it was freed and moved along its way, she watched it, smiling. It wasn't until after that she actually looked at Wham-Shell.

"Could take days, could take weeks. I hope it only takes a day or two though," Wham-Shell murmured. "Because Spyro's going to have my head if the Phantom Tide doesn't have Gill Grunt's mermaid girlfriend."

"Don't you think the Giants and them would have checked for her?" Riley blinked in confusion.

"No," Wham-Shell shook his head. "None of them knew about Gill Grunt's past then."

"So, we're blindly marching into the face of danger? I like it," Riley smirked. But then she looked worried. "What about Cynder? She's stuck like that…?"

"I'm sure Ninjini or Hex or someone has a way of fixing her," Wham-Shell waved her off. "Hex has a spell for everything."

"A whirlpool!" Riley called, pointing to a swirling chunk of water to their right. Wham-Shell looked across the sandy floor and saw it, too. He clapped his hands. "Yes! That will take us to Pearl Shores, which are right off the side of Rumbletown. There, we can take another whirlpool and then we should be right at the Chest of Exile!"

"What…?" Riley blinked blankly, as though she hadn't understood a word.

"In other words, go through the whirlpool," Wham-Shell pointed at it. Sure, she was pretty and all, but she could be thick as a rock sometimes!

Riley swam over to it, churning her legs in the water strongly. The swirling water immediately locked onto her and began sucking her in. She was pulled out of view, and Wham-Shell knew she'd appear at Pearl Shores in mere seconds.

Skylands had an intricate system of water. The oceans were all connected—magically, of course—by whirlpools. These whirlpools could take one to certain other oceans in Skylands. This particular one just happened to go to Pearl Shores.

Wham-Shell followed her. The whirlpools had a most strange, yet somewhat magical sensation about them… They, of course, whirled around in circles for a moment, but then they would take you through a tunnel-like trip where you saw nothing but glittering, sparkling, sapphire-blue ocean water…

Then Wham-Shell was standing on a gravel in another body of water. Riley looked over at him from a few feet away, waving her uninjured front paw wildly. "Come here! I might've found another one!"

Wham-Shell ran over to her. "Where?"

"Over here," Riley grinned, pointing with her tail towards yet another whirlpool. But… what Wham-Shell saw in front of it made him groan. Riley blinked at him. "What?"

"Don't you see the huge fish sitting in front of that whirlpool?" Wham-Shell shook his head. "I doubt he'll be ready to just let us walk by…"

Wham-Shell tiptoed over to the fish. It was a huge, long, silvery-blue fish with darker blue flecks. It was swimming back and forth in front of the whirlpool, but not close enough so it would be sucked in. Wham-Shell was painfully aware of the sharp teeth it had in its jaws, and he tensed his mace.

The fish whirled around to face him once he got closer. Riley joined Wham-Shell at his side. Wham-Shell looked at her, and then to her bandaged leg. The bandage was peeling off slightly due to being waterlogged, but Riley was holding it up to her chest. She wasn't putting any pressure on it.

Wham-Shell picked up his mace with his arms and held it up threateningly. He glared at the fish. "Back off or I'll do the same thing I did to the trolls to you!"

The fish, of course, did not understand. It rushed at them all the same.

Riley hissed and dodged. The only attack she could use was her teeth, considering she had no claws and couldn't shoot electricity like Zap could. Her water breath would also be useless beneath the water.

Wham-Shell rushed at the fish with his mace, smashing it down. The fish only barely managed to dodge. It gave a low growl, and waved its tail madly, propelling itself at Wham-Shell. It opened its jaws and, just as it prepared to bite down, Wham-Shell threw his mace forward.

It hit the fish square in the face, and it didn't get up after that. Wham-Shell pulled his mace back up and the water ran red. He wrinkled his face in disgust and looked over to Riley and the whirlpool. "Come on, let's get out of here," he said.

Riley nodded vigorously and jumped paws-first into the whirlpool. She was taken out of view. Wham-Shell followed suit.

This time, they were in a vast, sweeping ocean with a flat, sandy ocean floor as long as the eye could see. Riley bounced over to a turtle that was dragging itself across the ground. "Hi! Do you know where the Chest of Exile is?" She asked it.

Wham-Shell practically slapped himself in the face. "Riley… that's a turtle…"

"I know, but he lives around here, so he probably knows where it is," Riley answered brightly.

"Riley… wait, how do you know it's a he already? It can't talk and…" Wham-Shell shook his head, clearing his thoughts. "Never mind! Come on, I know where it is. I was an underwater king and all."

"Bye, Mister Turtle!" Riley called to the turtle, swimming after Wham-Shell. "Wham-Shell, I need to surface real quick," she told him.

"Alright," Wham-Shell had wondered when she was going to go up for some more air, considering it had been about an hour since their departure from the Citadel.

Riley kicked her feet off front the ground (minus her injured one) and swam upwards. Wham-Shell hoped the water wasn't too deep for her to make it. Wham-Shell sighed with relief when she managed to get to the top, take a breath, and then swim back down towards him.

"So, the huge island I saw above us is Rumbletown?" She asked.

"Yeah, that's where Ermit lives and where we got Brock from. Personally, I think Brock needs to go back there, but never mind that," Wham-Shell looked to the north, holding his mace over his shoulder. "The Chest of Exile is probably somewhere up there, due north."

"Then let's go!" She sprinted forward, holding up her hurt leg delicately. Wham-Shell chuckled at her enthusiasm, considering they were about to release the most fearsome pirating fleet ever to have set anchor in Skylands…

She went to round a rock that was in their way, but smacked face-first into something. Wham-Shell jogged over to her side, stifling laughter. "R-Riley, are you okay?" He asked, giggling.

She was flat on her back, blinking. "Who put that there?" She asked dazedly, getting back up and pointing forward.

Wham-Shell looked at the medium-sized Chest feeling very anticlimactic. "I thought it'd be bigger…" He murmured. A sword jutted out from where a lock would normally be, and it was chained to the ocean floor.

"I thought it would be somewhere more… I don't know, exciting?" Riley muttered, looking around at the barren sea-scape.

"Well, looks like I've still got to open it…" Wham-Shell looked at the Chest, gulping. He would be releasing the most fearsome pirating crew in all of Skylands. Thumpback and the other giants had attacked and defeated all of the pirates, sending them back to the Chest of Exile… Wham-Shell scoffed. He had driven out an army of trolls with his trusty mace (with half of the militia behind him, but he preferred to leave them out), surely driving away a bunch of salty pirates wouldn't be so difficult?

Chill's Ice Kingdom had been invaded by a large army of trolls and cyclopses when it was taken over, and Wham-Shell, Gill Grunt, Sunburn, Slam Bam, and Camo had managed to clear out Salt Lake Isle, but due to the amount of ground lost on the other three isles of the Northern Regions, the battle had been lost anyway. Wham-Shell's chest swelled with pride a bit more from the memory.

"Let's remove the sword," Wham-Shell grinned. "We can take whatever salty seadogs come out of there."

"Wait, we're not going to call for backup?" Riley asked in alarm. "And we're about to release a dangerous gang of pirates? Have you lost your ever-loving mind?"

"No! I'm Wham-Shell, I was once the king of the most powerful underwater kingdom known! I cleared out Salt Lake Isle in the Northern Regions, but nobody else could clear out the other isles and that's what lost us that fight! I have the most powerful mace in the world; I think I can handle a seadog or two!" Wham-Shell slashed his mace across the sword, breaking it off the Chest.

* * *

_**Skylanders: Darkest Hour: Rise of the Dragon King**_** will be put on hiatus until **_**Skylanders: Swap Force **_**is released because I have to know the entire story behind the Swap Force Skylanders. If they're elites, then they would have had to have joined the Skylanders long before they were blown apart… And since **_**Darkest Hour**_** will have heavy contact with **_**Skylanders: Swap Force**_**, I will need to know the story behind it all. However, **_**Snow Quest**_** and **_**The Most Frightening of Rides **_**will be continued, and I maaaaaaay make a few more… *looks left and right suspiciously***

**Numbuh 94, Over and Out.**


	26. Death, the Princess, and the Brave

_**Death, the Princess, and the Brave**_

* * *

**Jade**

* * *

Jade ran. As fast as she could, far, far from Kaz. How could he have done that…? How was it him…? It didn't make any sense… But he had heard Kaz talk with that female dragon, he was conspiring with her, and he had only confirmed what Jade had seen by saying that he was indeed Scarlett's killer…

She looked around. The sky was still bright blue; it was still midday. She could find Flashwing and get out of there.

Shame and guilt and anger and everything else in between swirled in a dark, dangerous storm within her as she sped over the grass, dodging trees and bushes. One second, she was fuming with anger at how Kaz had lied and deceived her, and done so much behind she and the other Skylanders' backs, the next, she was nearly crying with the guilt and shame that sunk in her stomach at how she had let Kaz have his way with her the night before…

Then, she had truly loved him, and honestly didn't care that she could become pregnant or anything else… After all, Cynder was already pregnant with Spyro's kid…

But now, only shame could replace that feeling of content and love…. Loathing for both herself and Kaz.

She stopped and breathed heavily, looking around. She had no idea where she was. She was somewhere within the Sapphire Forest, based on the trees that still littered the ground all around her thickly. She lifted her muzzle into the air and sniffed, hoping to catch the scent of someone.

And she did. Flashwing, Rider, Stealth Elf, and Camo.

She looked around. She had heard the dragon behind Kaz yelling at him to kill her, and he hadn't… But who was to say he wouldn't kill someone else if she was found in their company? Jade was only going to grab Flashwing, and then they'd leave and formulate a different plan.

She sunk her claws into a tree and began heaving herself up it, stopping on one of the higher branches, using her wings to occasionally gain back her balance. Looking down, the group of Skylanders she had broken away from were talking urgently to one another. Or, Camo, Stealth Elf, and Flashwing were. Rider was sitting next to a tree, fiddling with his hands nervously and murmuring things at least at two hundred words per second.

"FrightisgoneandJadeandKazaremissingandwemightneve rfindtheminthishugeforest—goodEonItoldthemwenevers houldhaveleftthe spotwherewewereandthatSpyrowouldfindus, butno—!"

It wasn't until Camo whacked him on the elbow with his tail that he began speaking normally. "I have a question: What on Skylands are you talking about?"

"Not like you'd care, anyhow! Fright is missing, and—and—bad th-things happen when he goes missing!" Rider stuttered, and Jade noticed that his cheeks were flushed red slightly.

Camo growled and snarled, "Rider, stop the nonsense, now! We're trying to figure out where Jade and Kaz slipped off too!"

"Not too hard to guess why," Flashwing growled bitterly.

"Why?" All eyes were now on Flashwing, including Jade's.

"Never mind," Flashwing grumbled, lying down and resting her head on her front paws.

Jade's paws were aching to get moving, to get away, but with Flashwing with the others like that, there wasn't a prayer of getting her alone right at the moment.

"Enjoying the scenery?"

Jade only barely managed to hold back a startled squeal, and fell out of the tree. Kaz stood over her like a shadowy black tower, his hair falling in front of his pink-red eyes. He bared his teeth at her. "Go. Go now. It's not going to be pretty what I'll have to do if you don't."

"Why's that? Going to add me to your skeletons in the closet?" She spat, arching her back and flaring her crystalline wings. Tears burned in her eyes almost immediately, but she refused to let them fall. "Not like it'd make much of a difference. Who else have you killed?"

"I've lied to you enough, there won't be any more lying. Thor, Scarlett, and in the past, Mabu children, my parents, my sister, and many more others I can't really remember…" he trailed off and sighed, his wings and tail drooping. "Just leave, please. Please. Ala will force me to kill you."

"Won't matter to you much, now will it? You lied to me, deceived me, played me for a total fool—not much different FROM killing me, is it?" She snarled, glaring at him and fighting back tears the whole time. "You've come in and are wrecking us from the inside! You're a virus, nothing more! You destroy what you can whenever you can!"

He visibly flinched. "You don't think I know that?"

"Of course you do. But you don't care!" She snarled, lashing her tail.

"You guys hear something?" Flashwing's voice came.

Kaz's eyes widened and he immediately vanished from the spot, right into thin air. Jade blinked in astonishment after him. Where had he gone?

She suddenly felt a force shove her, and then take off into the air. She scrabbled at whatever it was, but she couldn't see what to scrabble at. Whatever it was, it had claws, and they were sinking into her sides.

It only took a second for her to guess it was Kaz. He flew high above the canopy of the trees of Sapphire Isle and started flying away. She glared up at where she assumed he was. "They'll catch you! And when they do, they'll rip you to shreds!"

"Nobody's ever going to catch me, because I'm not doing anything anymore. You've won. I'm going to drop you up, then I'm going to leave, run away, you will never see me ever again. Take care of yourself, please—"

"If it's because you think I'm going to have your kid, forget it!" She hissed. "I wouldn't have your kid if you paid me!"

He became visible again and looked around. Jade did the same. There was a small island floating along nearby, a chain of other, even smaller chunks of rock that a full-grown dragon couldn't stand on.

Kaz landed on the larger one, throwing her to the side. "Do you think I planned all this? Planned to fall in love, planned to—to—you know—NO, I DIDN'T!" He snarled, raising his wings angrily and lashing his tail. "I didn't! I just thought that I'd come in, do my job, and then go back to Dragon's Peak, be treated as a hero. I didn't know any of this… would happen!" He paused. "I didn't know. I just didn't know."

"You still lied and deceived," Jade looked away from him, letting the tears finally escape her eyes. "And you did so—KNOWING I could become pregnant from you—and you didn't care!"

He had no response for that. Jade cracked a small smile. "No answer for that one, huh?"

"Goodbye, Jade. Forget me. I'll go into hiding. I might have to stay on the run to avoid Ala, but that's all. I guess, since I'm leaving them , I might as well betray them as well…"

* * *

**Kaz**

* * *

Kaz looked forward at her. He had paused because he longed to tell her how sorry he was, how much he wished he could change the past… But there was nothing he could chance, no matter how much he wanted to. "Agua was the one who dropped the wave on us back there. She planned to do that so Aquamarine—that's her minion-like little dragon, kind of like Thor, Boulder, Blaze, and myself are—could grab Sunburn and take him to Dragon's Peak to be executed because he has telepathic powers that could have endangered the mission.

"After Agua, there's Corpse and Cadaver. Corpse is basically Vathek times nine thousand. He won't care who he kills or what he destroys, he'll just attack and kill whoever he can. He can also shift some Skylanders evil. Cadaver can too, but Cadaver's deathly afraid of blood, so he won't do much of the dirty work himself. He's more than likely going to be used to sneak around and turn others evil—

"After them is Bio and Feuille. The Life dragon pair. Bio is fair and actually a little kind. She isn't going to strike someone down if they can't defend themselves, and she'll probably ask Spyro for a one-on-one fight. But I must warn you, Feuille is the exact opposite. She's sort of Bio's minion, and she's quiet, but she's dangerous. She'll attack and won't care to play dirty.

"Then there's Techna and Blade. Techna is a large, Tech dragon covered in nearly indestructible metal. She can shoot grenades, bullets, and daggers from her horns, as can Blade. Blade is covered in, well, blades. Touching him is a bad idea. And Techna's main weakness, despite popular belief it's Magic, is Fire.

"Then Ala will come. She'll expect to have me for back up, but she won't. Not that that'll make much of a difference. She's over eight hundred years old and has many spells to show for it, including a killing hex. The name is 'sectu' and then 'devra.' Sorry, I can't say them together because I have the same capability to use the spell and if I say it I could possibly kill you…" Kaz stopped and stared at the ground. "Tell who you want. I'm done."

He was. He was finished. Ala had explained to him why they didn't care for emotions and all that, but he had come to the deduction that there was no true reason to wipe out all halfbreeds… After all, Kaz himself was a Spell-punk-Magic dragon hybrid. He had joined Deu Sol by the belief that by eliminating halfbreeds altogether would mean there be no reason for pain and suffering to come from being a halfbreed, but after a long time, that belief had faded away into bloodlust that consumed Kaz and he actually began to enjoy the torturous deaths he dished out… After all, he'd had no problem murdering others long before meeting Deu Sol.

He had never felt so much gravity towards another person ever before. He was truly stuck between a rock and a hard place… Kill Jade and live with the hurt and guilt forever, or go on the run and live a guilty and depressed life… He really had no way out any way you slice it.

He sighed and took off, leaving her, gaping.

"You're such a bad liar," a cold feminine voice snarled.

Kaz stopped dead, beating his wings only to stabilize himself in midair. "Ala… You said… You said you wouldn't…"

"I'm not as deaf and blind as you think," Ala hissed, slapping Kaz with her tail, whirling him around to face her. Her eyes were blazing with anger. "I heard everything you told her, and saw everything you did. You and Jade are dead!"

Kaz gulped and felt numb. "J-Jade… Jade, run!"

Jade went to take off into the air, but clouds were covering the sun heavily and the sky was also darkening as night drew nearer. "I can't! I can't without the sunlight!"

Ala hissed and spread her wings. "Traitor!" She opened her jaws. "_Sectudavra_!" The red light soared from her open mouth and Kaz tensed, preparing for immediate death. But the light veered left hard and went sailing at Jade. Kaz couldn't tell whether it had hit her or the ground in front of her, but either way, dust flew up in the air and she fell off the side of the island.

Kaz's immediate reaction was to go after her, and cradle her, but Ala had other ideas. She slapped him with her wings, dazing him. "You're a traitor. You told everything about us to her. I was willing to give you a chance to save her and you without death, but you forced it upon yourself and her. Should I do the same to you, let Deu Sol deal with you, or let you live the rest of your life with the hurt?"

It was almost the exact same question he'd just been asking himself. Anguish and guilt crashed over him in a colossal tidal wave, forcing away any other emotions that may have been there. Jade was dead. The future he had daydreamed about was gone… And Ala had done it.

Ala had said she wouldn't come after him, wouldn't even bother him about Jade, but she had. She had come, and she had killed her. Maybe they didn't have room for caring, but that was cold-blooded! Hell, cold-blooded's an understatement!

…And what was the real reason he was sent out there to kill the Skylanders? Was it really so Deu Sol and He could rid Skylands of halfbreeds…? Or was it to simply inflict harm and pain, the same that Kaz had just felt and the Skylanders had endured?

Kaz had tried to deny it, but he did have some guilt for killing Scarlett… Ninjini had been so torn and hurt afterwards, no matter how big of a threat she was to him. Kaz didn't blame her for her outbursts… Nobody listened to her, nobody cared for her opinion, and she was almost always talked down to. He had heard her cry in the night before, and he honestly wished he hadn't. She had sounded so miserable…

Thor. At the time of his death, Kaz had loved it. The blood sinking into his scales, painting the grass red… But afterwards, he had realized he had killed an ally (no matter how insane he was or how much of a threat he could be), and he was far too uncomfortably aware that Storm had seen Thor's lifeless body. While the Skylanders had no means of understanding what the young griffin meant when he started muttering under his breath about a bloody mess of a dragon, Kaz understood almost immediately what Storm had seen.

Then of course Spyro had blamed himself for nearly everything that had happened. Especially when Eon 'left'. Eon had actually been lured off by Deu Sol after Deu Sol told him they could negotiate rather than fight… But Deu Sol had captured Eon, planning to use him for his own evil purposes… Eon, being a spirit, had managed to nearly escape many times, but Deu Sol was a sun dragon turned dark. He had many powers of his own up his sleeve.

He had been such a fool. Fooled the entire way. By Deu Sol, by Ala, by Ryouge… By everyone! He had been so stupid! So, so stupid!

He deserved the third option… but he wasn't about to choose any sort of option. He growled and looked at Ala. "I'm not a traitor. I now understand why the Skylanders fight against us! We're the bad guys—not them! Everything Deu Sol and you have had me do… Was for not for the right cause! And you made Jade pay for my stupid mistakes!" He snarled, glaring at her. "I'm not going to let you kill me. No, I've got a much different plan in mind…"

Kaz vanished, invisible to the naked eye. Ala snorted. "That trick doesn't work with me, Kaz, and you know it. You know I can sense you out with your Magic signature."

"Then stop yapping and start looking!" He spat, jumping onto her back and sinking his claws deep into her back, biting the back of her neck and sinking his teeth in deep. He let himself become visible again. He ripped his jaws out, spraying blood and some of her scales into the air. "I know the same curses you do!"

"Oh, dear Kaz…" Ala sang. "Don't you understand? There are rules to the hexes, curses, charms, and spells I know… Go ahead. Try to use the killing hex on me."

Kaz took the chance with a vengeance. "_Sectudavra_!"

The red light sparked from his jaws, but when it came to contact with Ala, it fizzled out. Kaz went numb, realizing his plan wasn't going to work if the killing hex wouldn't work on Ala.

"Kaz, I taught you that hex. It won't work on me because of that reason," Ala explained, throwing him off. "However, I can use it on you no problem."

Kaz went invisible again and jumped off her, flying back towards Sapphire Isle. Ala shot a killing hex after him and it nearly hit him… But Kaz would need to fool her. He dropped to the ground as the hex slashed through the top strands of his hair (the hex had to touch the person's body full-on in order to work right), fizzling out of view.

He splayed himself out on the ground, visible again, holding his breath. He left his eyes open. He knew from experience that when somebody dies, their eyes do not always close. The killing hex didn't leave any sort of mark on the victims it claimed, due to Ala perfecting it so that it would cause others to wonder what caused the dead creature's death… Ala landed close by him, growling.

"I know you're alive, Stupid. I'm a Magic dragon, remember?" She shoved him with her front paw, knocking him over. Kaz took the chance to blink out of her sight so he could continue to keep his eyes open. Ala's sensors didn't always work. If there was too much elemental energy in the air, she often found her sensors mixing things up, and if too many others of different and powerful elemental energies were around, her sensors could indicate poorly or wrongly. If he played his cards right, she'd second guess herself, like Ninjini did when he yelled at her that it was possible she was sensing somebody else's Magic signature still on him…

He kept his mouth shut tight, refusing to breathe in… Panic slowly crept into his mind when Ala waited close by for another minute. He'd soon be forced to breathe in, and Ala would easily have a chance to snatch his life.

"Buffoon. He actually thought he could fight against me. But just for good measure…" Ala leaned down next to him and said, "_Tillit-todas._"

With that, she took off into the air, flying away.

Kaz breathed in, but waited a few seconds before getting up. When he did, he had his eyes open wide in fear. Ala hadn't taught him that particular spell. "Man… This'll be—" he expected those exact words to come from his mouth, but instead, no sound whatsoever came out.

Kaz gaped. Had she muted him? He shook his head. He could figure that out later. Jade was dead… He needed to find Flashwing and the others, and explain everything to them. Somehow.

* * *

**Riley**

* * *

Riley whirled and turned on Wham-Shell. "You idiot!" She snarled, her voice coming out gargled in the water. She could hold her breath much longer than an hour if she didn't yap the whole time, but she'd told Wham-Shell that so he didn't insist she keep her mouth shut. The chest rattled and shook, rising up from its place on the seabed, the sword Wham-Shell had broken off lying in seaweed a few feet off. "We're dead meat and it's all because of you!"

"Well, excuse me if I'm just trying to help a friend out!" He spat back at her.

"Some help this is, considering we're going to help those dragons destroy Skylands by releasing this band of goons!" She snapped.

* * *

**Stealth Elf**

* * *

Stealth Elf looked at Flashwing. "What's going on, Flashwing?"

"No idea, but some people were just over there shouting…" She growled. "Couldn't really make them out though. More like shout-whispering."

Stealth Elf rolled her eyes, or tried to. Without a pupil in her eye, it was kind of hard for some people to tell when she was rolling her eyes or not. She did it constantly, so it was more of a blessing than a curse.

"We still need to find Jade and Kaz," Flashwing murmured worriedly.

"We are," she tried to assure the dragoness. False words, because she was beginning to wonder whether they would find the others or not. What if they had already left? Surely Flameslinger wouldn't leave her behind…?

She prodded Camo. "Come on, we have to get moving. We need to try to find Spyro. Let's all meet back up at the lake."

"Are you mad?" He sputtered, blinking at her in disbelief. "The lake is what got us all into this mess!"

"He's blaming the lake now? And I thought Prism Break was a rockhead," Flashwing rolled her eyes, putting her paws over her head in a dragon's face-palm. "We're doomed."

"Flashwing!" Stealth Elf scolded her, glaring at her.

"I'm not blaming the lake, but it did! I mean, what if that dragon's hiding in the lake again? I mean, seriously!" Camo stepped forward. "Persephone is dead because of that monster! And Sunburn could be too!"

"Wait up, all of you!" Auric panted, running towards them from many trees away. "Why did you all move on without me?"

"Should we tell him it's because he's a naggy old grandpa?" Stealth Elf asked Camo, whispering.

"No, because then he'll act like a thorn in everyone's side for the rest of the trip," Camo whispered back.

Stealth Elf held back laughter. Auric was being quite the pain in the behind, but saying so would only make him a million times worse. "Auric, you all caught up?"

"Yes! Not that you all bothered to wait for me, anyway," he grumbled. "Where's Whirlwind and the others?"

"We haven't found them yet, it's only been twenty minutes since we were separated," Camo muttered under his breath. "Stupid," he added, though near inaudibly. Auric didn't hear him.

"You can say that twice," Flashwing muttered.

"Say what?" Auric asked.

"Nothing…" Stealth Elf sang, interrupting them all. "We have to keep moving, now, let's go. To the lake, and I don't want to hear any if, ands, or buts about it!"

Camo growled as he got to his feet. "I don't want to go back to that lake. If that water dragon's hiding there, then we're walking right into a trap. And what if the others are on the move looking for us? We'll just start walking in circles around each other!"

"Camo…" Stealth Elf found no argument against his point. She clenched her fists. She hated it when others were right and she wasn't. "Fine, fine! We'll stay here. If Spyro's on the move, then I'm sure he'll find Kaz and Jade. We needn't worry about them right now."

Flashwing sighed. "I hope so."

And so they stayed. But the entire time, Rider was driving everyone crazy with his rambling beneath his breath ('Insanity Speaking', as Flasshwing had put it), and Auric kept trying to talk to everyone about the places he had seen in Skylands before.

"Everlast Tower, the tallest tower in Skylands! Owned currently by a nasty group of infuego chompies, Everlast Tower is a five-thousand-Ills-tall tower that was originally built by spiritless knights from the Arkeyan army. The tower was meant to mark their claim over the land, but of course, the Skylanders of old fought them and took control back of the land. The tower has long since fluctuated between the control of chompies, elves, dwarves, Skylanders, dragons, phoenixes, turtles, thaumaturges, unicorns, and everything else in between!" He was explaining to Camo. "And then of course, there's the Moazam Reservoir —"

"Sounds amazing, Auric," Camo growled, "but maybe Flashwing wants to hear?"

"Okay! The Moazam Reservoir was originally built by gillmen who needed to try to conquer the pollution that was beginning to litter their settlements and towns. They would direct heavily polluted water into the reservoir. Eventually leading to many wars between the crustaceous people, mermaids, and gillmen, the reservoir was the subject of conquest to many power-hungry leaders. Including your almighty Wham-Shell friend," he told Flashwing merrily, like it was a children's bedtime story. "The Mennaso Mine—"

Flashwing stopped him. "Give me a second to take in all that amazing information. In the meantime, annoy Stealth Elf."

"Annoy? I'm not annoying anybody…!" Auric exclaimed, sounding highly affronted.

"Why would you get him started, Flash?" Camo groaned. "Now he's going to rant to us about how we're tactless, rude, and what was the other foreign word he kept using?" Camo prodded Stealth Elf, who was honestly beginning to doze off.

"Who in the what?" She gave a start, smacking her head against the tree she was leaning against. "Ow!"

"Picture perfect," Camo smirked, brushing the bits and pieces of bark and leaves in her hair. "Stop sleeping, Stealth."

"What?" Stealth Elf had heard Auric's ramble, but hadn't really paid attention, and she was still quite groggy. "Need anything?"

"It's getting dark," Rider commented squeakily, his arms wrapped around his knees, which were pressed close to his chest in a huddle. "We actually should all be as-asleep," he stuttered slightly.

"Okay, I've been listening to him since we woke up and Camo had his little anger burst about saying the water dragoness was going to get it, but now I'm concerned. What is going on in that elf's head?" Flashwing demanded.

"I'm not just 'that elf'!" Rider shot at her, jumping to his feet. "Well,foroneI'mhalfDrowandthenFright'smissingandId on'tdowellwhenhe'smissing!" Rider shouted in one jumbled word, speaking at one-hundred-and-fifty words per second.

"I know, you haven't shut up about it since we woke up and found Camo and Persephone!" Flashwing exclaimed. "Why's it such a big deal, anyway?"

"Notlikeyou'dunderstand!" He picked his spear up off the ground and wielded it dangerously close to Flashwing's muzzle. "When I say bad things, I mean bad th-things," he said, much calmer than he'd been the entire time.

"Rider, calm down!" Stealth Elf snapped. "He's right. We need to sleep if we want to gain strength back. So, sleep."

Rider nervously paced around a tree before finally finding a spot that suited him. He laid out some leaves and curled up in them like a dog, although he kept getting up and moving around, as though he were extremely uncomfortable.

Flashwing was content with just curling up and lying on the ground. She complained slightly about the 'harsh ground' scraping her white, 'beautiful' scales, but after a few scathing stares from Stealth Elf, shut her mouth and went to sleep.

Camo was among one of the last to fall asleep. He had climbed high into a tree, and on a sturdy, strong branch near the top, was moving around so much leaves fell around Stealth Elf. She ended up just moving.

Auric made a makeshift bed from sticks and leaves he found lying around. "After lying around in the filth of that ship for a week," he had said, "a wattle and daub house seems like a royal mansion."

Stealth Elf had planned on staying up to keep watch, just in case, but she ended up dozing off against a tree. Her sleep was not without its troubles, though. Disturbing, dark dreams of the water dragoness prodded her nearly awake, and one particular dream of Flameslinger shouting for help that would never come jolted her firmly awake. She couldn't get back to sleep after that. Imagining Flameslinger in pain and alone was far too much.

The sky was pitch-black by now. Stealth Elf looked groggily around, and realized that Rider was missing.

She snorted and guessed he'd probably gone off to look for Fright. _I wonder whether he's mental, hopelessly lost without Fright, or just plain stupid, _she thought, getting up. Her legs and arms screamed in protest, as they were stiff from her rather uncomfortable sleeping position, but she knew she'd have to find Rider before he got himself in trouble.

Stealth Elf slipped off silently into the trees, her ears pricked for any signs of movement. Once, a bluebird took off, causing her to pause and draw a knife out of instinct. Another time, a jackrabbit jumped out in front of her and Stealth Elf had to stop herself from lashing out at it out of frustration. It hopped along, and she stomped over to a particularly tall tree with peaches hanging from its leaves.

Where on Skylands could he have gone? He couldn't have gone but so far.

"Stealth Elf?"

Stealth Elf whirled around and saw Rider. He had his spear at his side, clenched tight in his fist. "Oh, boy, Rider! Don't sneak up on me like that, that's my job!" She exclaimed once she recognized him, loosening her grip on her knife. "I could have stabbed you to death!"

"Unfortunately, I don't think I'll stop," Rider said. He took a step forward, and he sounded suddenly a lot more threatening. "I'll do as He says and that'll be the end of that. Without Fright here to rub off his positive energy or whatever, there will be nothing that can stop me or my purposes and you will be finished."

"Rider, cut the crap, come on," Stealth Elf regarded his talk as Gibberish. Rider had run out of booze; he was probably just talking crazy talk. "Let's go."

He lashed out his spear, coming alarmingly close to cutting Stealth Elf's leg as she attempted to walk forward. "No, I will not come with you. The one called Spyro is gathering your friends. He will be with Camo, Flashwing, and Auric soon enough. As for you," he took an intimidating step towards her, grinning evilly, as though trying to bare fangs like a dragon or an animal would. "I have to take you away from here quickly though, or else Fright will cause me to revert back to my 'normal self' as you would all know it."

"Rider, what are you talking about and what are you doing? Stop this at once!" Stealth Elf hissed, trying to talk sense into him. He was really scaring her now. "Please….?"

"Don't beg for mercy yet, princess," a feminine, silky voice called. "No use in that, now is there?"

"Why did you call me 'princess'?" Stealth Elf mused, confused. She turned around and saw a water dragon that looked almost identical to the one that had covered the island in water, but she had four legs, and didn't have a serpentine-shaped body. She smirked and walked up to Stealth Elf.

"Enough, Rider. Put the spear down. Go back to the others. Spyro will bring Fright and you'll revert back, no harm done. As for you, Little Miss Princess, we're taking you to first, know the part of your life you'll never explore, and then to Dragon's Peak. And by the way, my name is Aquamarine."

* * *

**Riley**

* * *

"Harharharhar! Ye be fools to release me!"

"That doesn't sound good," Wham-Shell commented.

"Gee, y'think?" Riley growled at him scathingly. Why couldn't he just listen to her? Would it really be that hard to call for backup? "We need to get help! LOOK AT THE SIZE OF THE PIRATE SHIP!" Riley was using more of her oxygen supply than she normally would, yapping on here and there, but she didn't care. Wham-Shell was being so _stupid,_ even if just the thought of the word made her uncomfortable.

She was used to ridicule about being stupid sent her way. Oh, the Skylanders that weren't that big of a fan of Cynder did it all the time. Ninjini loved to especially. She ground her teeth together as she remembered one particular conversation.

"_Cynder?" Riley walked up to the black and silver version of her once-friend, her eyes wet with tears that had not yet fallen. "Come on, Cynder… Stop this, enough is enough…"_

_She glared back at Riley. Ghost Roaster was sleeping next to her, a protective shield over him from Ninjini to protect him from Cynder if she tried to attack him. He, being the big oaf he was, didn't really mind the job. He found Cynder's attempts to get at him quite amusing, though he also found it quite saddening, as did Chop Chop and Eye-Brawl, the only other two Undead Skylanders still at the Citadel besides Cynder._

_Cynder curled her lips. At first, you would think Cynder has no teeth, but you'd be very wrong. Her teeth could come out by will from her gums. She unsheathed her fangs and bared them at Riley. Her canines were especially long, and to Riley, they only appeared to be longer when she was angry… Cynder swatted at Riley, nearly slashing a cut across her face, but she'd just barely managed to dodge._

"_Having fun, Riles?"_

_Riley would have thought it was Zap who was speaking, but she knew all too well Zap didn't have _that _high-pitched of a voice. She turned, and glared at Ninjini. "What?" She demanded._

"_I honestly think you should just give it up. She's got some kind of curse that can only be lifted by a truly evil spirit. Same with Sonic Boom. If it were up to me, both of 'em would be in the Outlands right now, fighting over who eats what. Kaos survived there and managed to come back, after all. Maybe Cynder and Sonic Boom would be smart enough. Or maybe Sonic Boom. Cynder might just try to electrocute everything in sight," Ninjini smiled. "On that cheery note, I also think you might want to, as the dragons say it, 'save your tail'."_

_Riley looked behind her and Cynder grabbed her tail with her front claws, as Riley was close enough that, even with Ghost Roaster's chain connected to her paws, she could still grab Riley's tail. Ghost Roaster stirred and awoke, yanking on his mace and chain to try and restrain Cynder._

_Cynder latched onto Riley's tail with her teeth, and slung her around a bit, before throwing her off. Riley cradled her paw the entire time so she didn't smash and break it worse than it already was. _

_Ninjini was laughing. "See what I mean? No amount of love or caring will get through to that black heart of hers. Spyro sure picked a bad time—and a bad mate—to have a kid with," Ninjini flicked her gaze at Cynder. "Anyways, have fun."_

_Riley was shaking with rage. She spat water at Ninjini, managing to wet her hair to where it was drooping. "Shut up, just shut up! You're an ancient djinn for crying out loud, could you at least _try _to act like you know what you're doing?"_

_Ninjini simply waved her hand, and the water was all gone from her hair. "Keep a muzzle on it, Stupid." With that, she floated on away._

"_Oh, whatever! More than ten thousand years old, and you act like a rebellious teenager!" Riley snarled. "I say we drop you off in the Outlands, how 'bout that?!"_

"Are you daydreaming? Riley! Wake up!" Wham-Shell elbowed her, stirring her from her thoughts. "We've got a pirate ship to investigate, or have you forgotten?"

Riley gaped in shock. The Chest had long since been driven into the ocean floor, and a giant seadog had replaced it. He looked awfully similar to Fangs, but he appeared to have horns and he had a giant sword in his left hand. He laughed loudly and looked down at Wham-Shell and Riley, a ship beginning to form behind him.

"Now, which of ye awakened me from me slumber? The Phantom Tide has returned, Skylands is ours for the takin', sez I—Captain Frightbeard!"

"Yeah, nice going, Wham-Shell!" Riley spat at him.

"You're really going to start this again right now?" He demanded, glaring at her, his hands tensing around his mace. "We have to get through his ship, then we can find the Chest and put him back in it. Are you with me?"

Riley had always dreaded a question similar to that one. She didn't have any extraordinary powers like any of the other Skylanders. She wasn't even remotely special. Wrecking Ball and Drill Sergeant looked like gods compared to her, with their special force-field and futuristic laser capabilities… She could just spit water and the occasional harsh remark. She didn't even have claws, thanks to her webbed feet! What could she possibly do?

She looked at Wham-Shell, and she saw pleading in his eyes. She went to sigh, but stopped herself so as to not run out of too much oxygen too fast. "Not that I'll be much help, but yes, I'm with you."

"It doesn't matter, me hardies! Phantom Tide, grab the prisoners! Put them on me ship, and we'll get a move on towards the Skylanders Citadel so we can take them out! They won't stop me again…" Captain Frightbeard let the statement hang dangerously in the air as several seadogs jumped off from the boat that had formed behind him. They weren't as big as he was, but they were still quite big.

Wham-Shell whispered into Riley's ear. "Let them catch us. They'll take us right to the ship. We attack them from the inside out. Got it?"

"Got it," she nodded.

The giant seadog, however mighty he was, obviously still needed air. The three seadogs that had leapt off the boat took hold of Riley and Wham-Shell, then they, as well as Captain Frightbeard, set to raising the boat.

The boat began to rise quickly. Captain Frightbeard and the other pirate crew mates jumped onto it, gasping and breathing in deeply once they reached air. Riley did too. She had no idea how the ship was simply floating after being sunk in the water, but she didn't question them.

"Lock them in the cellar! And if they escape, it be yer head!" Captain Frightbeard snarled at the few seadogs that made up his pirate crew. They nodded vigorously and took Riley and Wham-Shell, throwing them down a hatch that led to a cold, damp room in the tween decks of the ship.

"This is just dandy!" Riley hissed. "Look where you've gotten us!"

"Is anyone there?"

Riley and Wham-Shell both froze, and gave each other a look that asked 'Did you say that?' But when no answer came from either of them, they realized it hadn't been either of them, and began to search for a different source of the voice.

"Right here, my name is Elli."

Riley looked at the easternmost end of the dark room, and only barely made out a beautiful mermaid. Riley, due to having been in water for the past hour and a half, didn't notice that the floor had about a foot of water on it.

"So, what now?" Wham-Shell asked.

"I don't know, you're the one who came up with this brilliant plan! We found Gill's mermaid, now we have to get out of here with her in tow!" Riley spat at him.

"Wait, you know somebody by the name of Gill?" The mermaid asked, her green eyes sparkling. Her lower, fish-like half was a silvery, shining blue, and her skin was a green-tinged peach color. Her hair was red, and hung down to her shoulders. It looks stiff and greasy though. "When some Skylanders fought the Phantom Tide a year ago, they did not hear my cries for help… Wham-Shell, is it? You're a Skylander. Do you know Gill Grunt?"

"Yeah, yeah, we know, your Gill Grunt's mermaid girlfriend, etcetera, etcetera, whatever, whatever. Now, we need a way out," Wham-Shell waved her off. "Now, does anybody have a plan?"

"Thought that was your part of the deal, genius," Riley hissed.

* * *

**Stealth Elf**

* * *

Rider nodded. "I bid you both farewell, Aquamarine and Seraphina."

"Serawho?" Stealth Elf blinked in confusion. "My name is Stealth Elf, Rider, you know that! And what are you doing helping them? You're a Skylander! Have you double-crossed us?"

"Rider has two prominent sides," Rider began. The way he spoke in third person disturbed Stealth Elf deeply. "Positive and negative. Rider himself stands for the negative. Fright stands for the positive. When one is away from the other, the energy that person stands for takes them over. As with Rider, negative. With Fright, positive. After a certain amount of time away from the other, the force will take over until nothing can stop it from controlling the body. Like now, Rider is no more; I, the evil, negative energy, have taken over. But the moment Fright comes within a radius of forty feet, I will begin to rapidly revert back to the Rider the Skylanders know as a whole. As for now though…" He smiled, his eyes flashing wildly. "I can do whatever it is I wish and nothing can stop me!"

Stealth Elf shook her head, her mind whirling. "Rider, you've gone insane!"

"No, I've just finally gotten away from Fright!" He called back to her. "At least now you know."

"Know that you're a walking ball of negative energy? Yeah, now I do!" Stealth Elf snapped at him. "And I'll make sure all the Skylanders know it, too!"

"So?" He asked lazily, yawning. _YAWNING! The nerve…! _Stealth Elf clenched her fists in anger. He continued. "Do what you like. It won't change anything. Once I change back, all the Rider then will know is that he was consumed by negativity for a while. Not what he did or what happened…. And I also have these powers," Rider ran towards her, and shoved her to the ground, his hand beginning to blaze with literal fire. Stealth Elf went to push him off, but he held firm.

"I could kill you right now, no problem at all…" He said, a deep longing in his voice. "Rider has trapped the negativity within himself for so, so long… How I have lusted for the chance to finally take a life. A Skylander's, at that!"

"Rider, enough," Aquamarine snarled. "You cannot kill her. I don't care who you decided to stab through the heart, but it's not going to be Seraphina. Go back, so the Skylanders will not find you out."

"While I am in this form, I am not Rider!" Rider flared up, anger lacing his voice. "I am Nega. Nega, and nothing else."

"Whatever. Go back to the other Skylanders 'Nega', please," Aquamarine growled, obviously annoyed.

Rider smiled and put his spear over his shoulder, turning around and prancing back towards the camp.

Stealth Elf gazed after him, open-mouthed. Impossible! Rider…? Evil…? There wasn't any… it didn't… but… She desperately searched for any other explanation, any other pointer, or clue, but all roads led back to what Rider had just told her.

She clenched her eyes shut and looked down. "So, two questions. Where are you taking me? And why do you keep calling me Seraphina? My name is Stealth Elf, do your research next time."

"No. I will explain to you once we get to where we're going, but trust me, your name is Seraphina," Aquamarine growled. "Now, I suggest you listen to me, or I can call Rider back here with a hostage. Really, it's your choice."

Stealth Elf began thinking rapidly. If Fright approached, Rider's negativity would settle automatically due to Fright's positive influence… Right? She shook her head. It hurt from what she was thinking about. She sighed and nodded. "Fine. Take me. And my name is not Seraphina!"

"Just so you don't get any ideas…" Aquamarine slapped the knives out of Stealth Elf's hands and then spat a rod of water at her. It wrapped around her midsection, and Aquamarine wrapped the other end around her neck. Stealth Elf blinked at her. Aquamarine explained. "Aqua Chain. It will connect me and you no matter what. So any ideas you get are best left unspoken, Princess."

"I'm not a princess!" Stealth Elf exclaimed, thoroughly irritated. "I was raised to fight using stealth and ninja techniques. Does that sound like a princess to you?"

"Can you remember anything of your birth?" Aquamarine questioned, sounding annoyed herself.

"Not really," Stealth Elf answered cautiously.

"Okay then. Shut up and come along! Get on my back," Aquamarine hissed.

Stealth Elf was already chained to this dragon; she didn't want to be any closer to her. Without her knives, she had no methods of defending herself other than biting (ew!) and kicking and punching like an animal. She had half a mind to just yell at the top of her lungs for help, but that could endanger both her and others… She didn't really have a choice.

She sighed. "Fine. I'll come with you."

"There's a good girl," Aquamarine said sweetly, spreading her wings and moving her tail so Stealth Elf could climb on. She did so, but not without giving Aquamarine a good kick on the thigh.

"Ouch! Watch it!" Aquamarine hissed.

"Sorry," Stealth Elf sneered, not sorry in the least bit.

"Oh, whatever. Well, we're flying now, so pull another stunt like that, and I'll throw you off," Aquamarine growled, beating her wings against the air and rising into the sky. "I'm going to show you something, then I'm going to drop you off there. The overzealous people will keep you there; you'll really have no use in trying to even get back. You may not want to return to a life like this after learning what I have to show you."

"You're just like that dragon that nearly drowned us all, killed Persephone, and possibly Sunburn!" Stealth Elf snapped. "So stop trying to talk me out of the Skylanders, it won't work."

"Maybe it won't work from me," Aquamarine grinned darkly. "Just enjoy the ride, Princess."

Stealth Elf felt anger surge through her at being called 'Princess' again, but allowed it to subside. She didn't want to be thrown off… Aquamarine could probably break her Aqua Chain easily.

Stealth Elf saw the Northern Regions almost immediately. The snowy islands were identifiable not only because they were white with snow, but because of the large, red flags that flapped in the wind high above the ground. Since the cyclopses and trolls took over, several other islands had been added to their collection other than the original four. Glacier Gully, Snow Helm, and Icen Tellu to name them.

Stealth Elf then saw the Elven Kingdom come into view. She knew, as most did, that the Elven Kingdom was divided into eight territories, each for the eight different elements (Fire, Water, Earth, Air, Tech, Magic, Life, and Undead). Life was the largest population of elves, and Undead was the smallest.

Stealth Elf also knew that on her birthday exactly (year, date, and everything) the elven queen gave birth to a child that was stolen two months later. Stealth Elf had always thought it as simple coincidence, and nothing more. She still thought it as coincidence.

Aquamarine headed for the center of the Elven Kingdom, flying over the Life elves' few home isles (that were each about twenty miles long and about fifteen miles wide, mind you) and to the center island. The one with the queen and the king, and their castle.

Stealth Elf clutched Aquamarine's shoulders tightly. "What're you doing? You can't just march up to their castle like that! You'll have hundreds of guards on you in seconds!" Stealth Elf hissed. "Stupid!"

"Shut up, Princess, they're expecting me," Aquamarine snarled. She landed on the island, shaking Stealth Elf off. Stealth Elf grumbled to herself as she untangled her feet out of the watery chain, getting up.

The Elven Kingdom's castle, called the Elven Palace, was huge. Surrounding it was a fence, more than likely made from moltastel (a special type of steel Fire elves could make) and beyond it were guards. Stealth Elf had no idea what element they were, as they were covered in suits (probably also made from moltastel) but some had bows and arrows, others had swords, some had spears, and there were a few with hatchets and maces.

One stepped forward. Stealth Elf could see its ears, which were green. It pointed a spear at her. "State your business here, dragoness and elf!" He shouted gruffly.

"S-Stealth Elf, sir!" Stealth Elf said, taking a knee and bowing quickly. Aquamarine didn't move, and barely blinked.

"Aquamarine. The queen and king know of me and my friend here. So you can get that smelly hunk of metal out my face, and you can let me in," Aquamarine spat, lashing her tail.

"Impudence…" Another guard muttered. Stealth Elf didn't dare look up to see who it was, though.

"Straighten up, Princess," Aquamarine hit Stealth Elf in the back of the head with her tail. "Why are you groveling at their feet?"

"My question is, why is she smacking the elf in her possession if she is possibly the queen and king's missing daughter?" An elf with tan ears asked the one that had threatened Aquamarine, who waved him off.

"Wait, hold on a second," Stealth Elf dug her feet into the ground and refused to move, grabbing the water chain that connected her with Aquamarine. "You think I'm the daughter of the king and queen? Ha! Ha! As if! That's hilarious, and also very infuriating! I'm no princess, I don't belong here, my name is not Seraphina, and you're not taking me in there! My name is Stealth Elf, I am a Skylander, an elven ninja, and always will be! Now if you'd be kind enough, please do take me back to the Citadel or Sapphire Isle!" She snapped, clenching her fists and tensing in anger.

All of this for a false theory? There were about twelve known elves with the same birthday as the elven princess that had gone missing, Stealth Elf just happened to be one of them. While the king and queen had done their best to contact and talk with every one of them, Stealth Elf never even saw the need to speak with them. She already knew she wasn't a princess. She certainly didn't act like one, and she didn't even like the idea. Stuck in a frilly dress for most of the day, and doing what? Reading books or learning stuff from some grandpa professor? No thanks!

"You are, and they can prove it to you!" Aquamarine hollered, arching her back and spreading her wings in an attempt to make herself look larger and more threatening. "I—"

"Enough!"

Out of the great crimson gates that led into the huge castle, one composed, tall elf came walking. He had a confident and firm look on his face, and the way he walked let everyone around him know that he was not to be trifled with. He had green skin and dark blue hair, and of course, pupil-less eyes. His ears were pointed, but (probably from age) were slightly drooped. He wore a pale silver tunic-like gown, and dark gray pants that hung over his feet. He looked down at the guards who appeared to be shaking beneath their armor.

"I have no enemies here. Leave me be. Aquamarine, take your leave. We will speak with Stealth Elf alone."

"B-but I—" Aquamarine sputtered, only to be cut off by the elf, who Stealth Elf guessed was the king, shooting her a glare. Aquamarine growled and lowered her head.

"I know of your friends at Dragon's Peak, but you are in my land, my kingdom now. You have no power here, none at all, and are hopelessly and bleakly outnumbered and gravely outclassed. You may have managed to capture Stealth Elf without issue, but I promise you, if you pick a fight here, it will only end with war. Your friends have already thrown Skylands into turmoil. I can worsen it billionth-fold," the king growled.

Aquamarine gulped and nodded. "R-right, sir. Sorry, for bringing Stealth Elf against her will, but…"

"But you wanted to possibly extract her from the Skylanders. I understand. Goodbye, or the grass will be painted red," he growled again, this time taking a step towards her.

Aquamarine gave a squeak and lashed her tail through the watery chain connected her and Stealth Elf. It turned to liquid water and splashed against the ground, breaking. She took flight, zooming away as quickly as she could.

The king turned back to Stealth Elf. "Follow me, into the castle, and we shall see whether you are Alicia's and I's missing daughter. I can't help but to hope so. She has been missing for so long…"

"I'm not," Stealth Elf muttered under her breath, but she walked inside anyways. She had just heard the fierceness of his voice, and she didn't want that directed her way in an order. She was an elf, after all, in the Elven Kingdom. Here, the Skylanders had no control over government or her; she was under the mercy of the elven laws and systems.

The inside was even more beautiful than the outside. The ground was white and bronze tiles, with the occasional statue here and there of elves and dragons and Mabu and dwarves. The walls were silvery-white, but it was apparent to Stealth Elf from the texture that it wasn't the actual precious metal silver, and that it was paint. Stealth Elf also noticed that the bronze tiles on the ground weren't actual bronze either…

"How come none of the silver and stuff is real?" She asked boldly, letting her curiosity get the better of her as he let her to a gold-painted stairwell.

"Because the stereotypical queen and king you see on television programs is not true. We don't bathe in a bathtub of money or have a toilet made from pure, solid gold. Sure, we have more gold than your average Life elf, but we don't spend it on useless appliances and whatnot. Unlike what most think, we don't just sit around our castle and sort out numerous problems through paperwork that can become lost. No, we physically will go around and occasionally fix problems that way. But never mind any of that—we must go see the queen and then we will check to see whether you are Seraphina or not. Your birthday is indeed Eleyes the thirteenth?" He finished with the question, never stopping as he walked up the stairs.

"Yeah," she grumbled. "More like a curse, though, really. I'm telling you, I'm no princess!" She bristled, irritated again with the coincidence. _There's no way I'm a princess, _she thought. _My parents probably just dropped me off or something._

He didn't respond. He just continued to lead her up the stairs, and once they reached the top of the winding staircase, a female elf came into view.

She was a little shorter than the king, but looked strikingly similar to Stealth Elf. She gave a start when she saw her, and blinked. Her hair was the exact same shade of blue, and her skin was the same green hue. She wore a tan top that was similar to the king's tunic, but looked more like a dress in Stealth Elf's opinion. She stopped when she saw Stealth Elf.

"Who's that? Is that the elf Aquamarine was bringing?" She asked, sounding urgent.

"Why on Skylands would you let one of those dragons bring us her?" The king shot at her scathingly. "You know good and well what's going on at Dragon's Peak! Aquamarine could have killed her without any remorse, I hope you know."

The queen, Stealth Elf guessed, cringed visibly. "I… I didn't think of that… She was offering to return me my daughter. Our daughter. How could I have simply said no?"

"Hey! I am not your daughter, okay?" Stealth Elf interrupted, annoyed. "Think of me as me! Stealth Elf! Elven ninja! Skylander! I'm no princess!" She exclaimed, bristling again. "At least check to see if I'm your daughter or not before you start calling me your daughter and Seraphina and all that junk!"

"Come here," the queen beckoned her forward by wiggling her finger back and forth. "I don't bite, I promise. But I need to look to see whether you have a birthmark that Seraphina had when she was a baby."

Stealth Elf walked right over to her. "Just to prove to you I'm not a princess," she growled, determined to let them both know she wasn't enjoying this at all.

"By the way, my name's Alicia," the queen murmured, quickly pulling up Stealth Elf's arm and moving the cuff around her wrist. A deep, darker green scar ran down from her wrist to a little ways up her hand. It was a scar from a battle in Cadaverous Crypt about two years ago, when Skylands tried to take over Skylands using the power of the Darkness. To Stealth Elf, it was still slightly painful to the touch, which was half the reason she wore the fingerless gloves.

But to the right of the scar was a lighter green, spade-shaped mark. Stealth Elf had noticed it a long time ago, but thought of it as nothing more than skin color variation. Alicia gave a squeak and her eyes welled with tears almost automatically.

Stealth Elf wrenched her right arm away from Alicia, picking up her glove and putting it back on. "What? I have a spot on my hand, so what?"

Alicia said nothing. She held out her own right hand, and on the right side, towards her pinky, was the same lighter green spade Stealth Elf had on her hand. Stealth Elf's mouth went dry. "But… I'm not!" She backed away, glaring at Alicia. There was no way she was a princess! No way!

"Seraphina! Lucas, it is! It's her! Seraphina!" She cried (quite literally) in a high-pitched voice, glee coming off her in waves.

"I'm _NOT _Seraphina!" Stealth Elf snapped. "My name is Stealth Elf!"

"You're right," Lucas, the king, nodded. He looked happier than when Stealth Elf had first seen him, as his ears were perked, no longer drooping, and he was beaming. "You were Seraphina when you were a baby. You chose to have the name Stealth Elf, and you may keep that title. Stealth Elf, we know this is a lot for you to take in… but I want to ask you something. Do the Skylanders know what is going on at Dragon's Peak?"

Stealth Elf was still reeling from the discovery she was the lost princess of the Elven Kingdom. She didn't want to believe it… She liked to believe herself as a riff-raff elven ninja who wasn't to be messed with, and fought dirty. She liked her reputation. She didn't want that to be replaced with the image of a prissy, dress-wearing princess! That was Flashwing's fantasy, not hers!

She glared at Alicia, who was crying from the discovery of her lost child, and smiling all at the same time. She wrapped her arm around Lucas' waist.

Stealth Elf nodded stiffly. "Yes. Someone named Deu Sol has taken over. His dragons have been attacking us."

"Then—!"

"Alicia, please," Lucas silenced her. "Stealth Elf, we want to offer you the help of our own army and warriors. If a final battle between the Skylanders and Deu Sol's dragons comes, we will offer our help. We also have many thaumaturges and dwarves within our midst. They can offer their help as well, I am sure."

Stealth Elf snorted. The only kind thaumaturge she'd ever met was Chill. The rest were arrogant, irritating, self-centered survivalists who cared for nobody but themselves or, if they had family with them, family. She highly doubted any would come to their aid.

And then dwarves? They were too short. One of the dragons would probably accidentally step on them!

But she nodded again, just as stiffly as before. "I'll keep that in mind."

"Now here comes a very important question. Do you wish to stay a Skylander?" Lucas asked.

Alicia chimed in. "Sera—I mean, Stealth Elf—I want to ask you to not…. Those dragons… They could hurt you, or worse!" She said. "I don't want to see you get hurt… You already have a nasty scar on your hand. Where did that come from?"

"Cadaverous Crypt," Stealth Elf spat, flaring up on her mother. "I am a Skylander! I will always be a Skylander, until I'm too weak and frail to move anymore! I'll fight against the Darkness, Kaos, these dragons, and everything else in between until the day I die!" She exclaimed. "That was basically the oath I took when I became a Skylander. I will stay a Skylander, no matter what."

Alicia looked stung, but nodded all the same. "If it suits you… One of our pilots may take you back to the Skylanders' Citadel."

"We're split up at Sapphire Isle," Stealth Elf explained. "Is there any way you can help us?"

"Some Tech elves can come along with technology to locate and bring everyone together, yes, and we can carry you back to the Citadel," Lucas nodded.

Stealth Elf sighed with relief. Maybe she was a lost princess, but that didn't mean she had to stop becoming a Skylander. But she still had a few questions on her mind. "Why did Aquamarine bring me here if you're going to fight against them?"

"Because she was under the impression we would stop you from being a Skylander, therefore weakening them," Lucas answered. "She was nearly right, but we can't allow her to succeed."

"And another… Do I have to tell the Skylanders that I'm the princess?" Stealth Elf asked sheepishly, afraid of what their reactions may be. Other than the time she had spent with them just then, she had only known them for two months when she was a baby. She had no idea how they'd react to anything, really.

"No," Lucas responded before Alicia could open her mouth. Alicia shot him a furious glare, but Lucas didn't even acknowledge it. "Now let's go."

* * *

**I know, I know, this one is quite literally ten thousand words long. But I wanted to give everyone insight into the important OCs (other than Paola, who in all honesty isn't really important) and let everyone know what was going on in the subplots. Kill me for subplots that make my chapters five buhmillion words long. xD**

**And I also broke the hiatus... Well, I'm going to try to stick with it till the thirteenth while I brainstorm when and how Swap Force characters will come in and whether they'll even come in during Dragon King. So, cheers!**

**Also, I MIGHT put this story back under the M rating. Remember, in order to see stories that are rated M in searches, you have to physically go to the filters and change it... or search it in Google, it doesn't matter to me. xD**


	27. Affliction

_**Affliction**_

* * *

Rider blinked at Fright in confusion. The ostrich was nudging him hard. Rider shook his head out of his stupor, and a floodgate of dark foreboding pressed down on him. He knew all too well what the sinking feeling in his chest was. Nega had come out, and what he had done was unknown, as it always was when he did.

He was standing back with the others, except now, everyone was there. Spyro was there, with everyone else, except for Sunburn, Jade, Kaz, and… Stealth Elf? But she had been with his group…

Rider felt an icy realization grip him. He would never be able to figure out what Nega did while he was in control, but Rider's thoughts ran wild…. What if he had done something to Stealth Elf?

"Rider!" Fright tapped him again, giving a huge smile. Rider bit his lower lip and looked away, clenching his eyes shut and sitting on the grassy ground. The trees overhead shook in an early morning breeze.

"You still haven't given me an answer as to why you followed me, when I said for you guys to wait at the lake with Paola," Spyro growled to Flameslinger, who was pacing back and forth, looking panicked.

"I already told you! Paola was driving us crazy! I certainly didn't want to deal wi'z her! And where's Steal'z Elf? Camo, you said she was here!" Flameslinger turned to the Life dragon, who was only barely awake and lying beneath a thick bush. Rider had enough evidence by Flameslinger's body language that he was glaring at the dragon beneath his blindfold.

"Calm down, everyone!" Spyro shouted. He jumped onto a tree, climbing into a higher branch that stuck out without any leaves on it. Rider had no clue who Paola was, but he guessed the strange thaumaturge that sat below the tree Spyro had climbed up was she. She had baby blue hair that was draped over her face due to her sulking position. He couldn't see her eyes.

Flashwing moved over next to Camo and laid down next to him. The Life dragon blinked at her, as though he was unsure of how to react, but eventually just decided to leave it and looked at Spyro.

Hex came floating over to him. "Spyro found us before you guys," she explained. "Rider, are you okay? I know you're dead and all, but you look pale…"

Rider shook his head. "Nothing, leave it," he said shortly, not wanting to speak much.

Fright pecked him on the foot. "What's your problem?" The dark telepathic voice sounded in his head.

"None of your business, that's what," Rider spat back at him. Fright recoiled and said nothing more.

Pop Fizz, Red Fizz, Molta, and Hot Dog were sitting together, staring up at Spyro expectantly from beneath a tree with bright yellow bananas in its branches. Double Trouble and Roy were watching from next to them, Sprocket at their side.

Swarm was sitting on the ground behind Spyro's tree, hunched, looking uncomfortable. "I hate trees," he grumbled. "My wings are working fine now. Can we please leave Spyro?"

Lightning Rod and Jet-Vac were to the left of Rider and Hex. Lightning Rod was watching Spyro intensely with his emerald green eyes, while Jet-Vac stood up like a dutiful member of an army presenting himself to their general.

Whirlwind was checking over everyone. When she came to Rider, though, he refused her offer. "No, I'm fine," he had said, trying to maintain a stiff voice, though he could hear it quaver. "Really." He didn't know what he had done while Nega was in control. He could have been in a fight, and he may have had some sort of mark remaining from it…

Auric had joined with Brock and Fangs and they were all chattering on about a Luminescent Bridge in the Chocolate Ocean… Rider didn't even bother listening.

Cali and Flynn were talking eagerly to one another, as well as… Hugo! Hugo was okay! Rider felt a little relief at knowing Hugo was alive and okay. He had a bandage wrapped around his head, but at least he was alive.

"We've searched the whole island," Spyro began. "Swarm and I were flying over the island to check for Jade, Kaz, Sunburn, and Stealth Elf. They're nowhere to be seen… We're going to have to assume they somehow made it back to the Citadel. Now, where's Persephone?"

Rider clenched his eyes shut and looked down yet again. He as well as most of the others from his group did the same. But Camo didn't; he wailed like a lost child.

"Dead! They killed her! She didn't even need to be hurt! She did nothing to them! Nothing at all! Sunburn's probably that way too—!" He probably would have continued if Paola hadn't interrupted him.

"Stop yelling like t'at! Good Skhali, and I t'ought Celsius' blabbermout' talk was annoying. You're terrible! Sunburn's fine, he's back at our home isle, unfortunately," she spat. "I was hoping we could move t'is along, so I could get home and you could get your hybrid from our home!"

Rider opened his eyes in shock. Did this thaumaturge have any idea what had been happening lately? He clenched his fists this time, and glared at her, anger surging within him. He could tell Fright felt the same, because the electricity in his eyes cracked and flashed, and Rider felt the same with the orbs on his chest and forehead.

"For your information," Camo snarled, getting to his feet and glaring at Paola, lashing his tail back and forth, "Persephone was an innocent! Imagine you were a child back in the Northern Regions before those trolls and cyclopses—bless them for taking over your kingdom, you tactless ice-hearts—and you had been left at home because it was a weekend and you weren't going to school that day. A raid happens, and someone comes in, and kills you. How do you think your parents are going to feel, huh? How?" Camo snapped his teeth in her face, slapping the ground with his tail. Firecracker peppers appeared around Paola and blew up, startling her.

She pushed him away. "You've no right to talk about my home like it's a children's bedtime story! And we're not ice-hearts, and our home was taken from us in a single day!" She yelled, jumping up. Rider could see tears welling in her eyes. "You t'ink it's been easy for us? Huh? We're not accepted t'at well into ot'er societies—hell, I doubt t'e elves want us t'ere—and t'en what's our purpose in life? What? I have no idea anymore! I knew once, but now I don't! Just shut up!" Paola went to grab something from her belt, but Spyro shot a fireball down between her and Camo.

"Enough is enough! Paola, we're going to come and get Sunburn and you can go home. Camo, leave her alone. Where's Persephone?" He asked.

Paola shot Camo a nasty glare before sulking back over to the tree where Spyro was standing on a branch. Camo continued to lash his tail, and huffed as he lay down next to Flashwing.

Rider continued to feel worse and worse as the seconds went by. Where was Stealth Elf? What if he had done something to her…? Oh, he couldn't bear the thought of it! He bit his lower lip and had to stop from shivering in fear. It was like this every time Nega showed himself. That was the reason Rider tried to stay at Fright's side all the time.

Rider couldn't use any magic tricks or even speak using dark telepathy (an Undead being's version of telepathy) without giving Nega a clear-cut way to take him over. Fright stood for the positive half of Rider, and he stood for the negative half. When he used negative energy attacks, he gave Nega leverage that he could use to take control of Rider. This could only be stopped if Fright was close by—within a forty foot radius to be exact. Fright could stop it, but it would come at a price. Sometimes, it dropped Fright into a steep depression, sometimes, it gave him nightmares, or other times, it made him feel physical pain.

When away from Rider, Fright would become a positive, happy-go-lucky, unafraid creature. He would be peaceful… happy. Rider hated that it was he who weighed him down, caused him to be unhappy and often annoyed. Fright put up with so many things for him, and what had he ever done in return other than harm him?

"Persephone's back there," Flashwing jerked him from his thoughts. She was looking up at Spyro with mournful eyes. "We buried her so nothing would get to her. We didn't want to drag her along to hurt her."

"How would it hurt her?" Fright asked Rider, tipping his head in confusion. "She's dead, so she can't feel anymore. Damaging her body wouldn't matter."

Though Fright wasn't as dumb as most animals could lead you to believe, he was still an animal. Death to him was natural and simply part of life that came when it did. He didn't feel the same, horrible loss anybody else would over Persephone's loss. He'd simply see it as the end of one's circle of life, even if it did come a tad early.

Rider shook his head, ignoring him.

"Right…" Spyro gave a small, half-hearted smile. "Come on guys, cheer up. We'll find Jade, Kaz, and Stealth Elf. In all honesty, Persephone's in a better place. Everything's going to be just fine. Sunburn's okay. Everything'll be okay," his smile became warmer and Rider did his best to believe his light-hearted, comforting words. He needed them.

Just as they began moving, a voice called. "Permission to land!"

Rider looked up through the trees of where the call had come from. Flameslinger dashed ahead of them all, leaving a small, blazing trail of fire. Flashwing hissed and put it out by kicking dirt over it.

"Permission granted!" Spyro called out.

A rather large dinghy came lowering through the trees, the wings at its sides beating against the trees and air. Rider wondered how it was beating against the trees and staying afloat, but didn't question anything out loud.

Inside were some elves. And of them, there was Stealth Elf. He sighed with so much relief he nearly felt like crying with joy. He hadn't done anything to her after all! He smiled and bit back his tears.

There were two rather tall elves in the dinghy, and then there were some other, golden-skinned elves. Well, they weren't exactly golden—more of a tan, shimmering color, like a bronze. It took Rider a moment to recognize them as Tech elves. They all walked out of the dinghy.

One of the Tech elves made his way over to Stealth Elf. He had crimson-colored hair, and wore muddy brown clothes. He gave a slight bow to her. "These are your friends, I am assuming? Was the ride comfortable?"

Flameslinger walked up to Stealth Elf and hugged her, forcing her to leave the elf hanging. He awkwardly backed off, looking slightly affronted. Flameslinger let go of her and sighed. "I 'zought some'zing might 'ave 'appened to 'vou.."

"I'm fine, Flameslinger," she said a little shortly. Flameslinger recoiled, as though she'd just slapped him clear across the face. Stealth Elf cast the two tall elves what Rider swore was a nervous look.

Flameslinger backed away from Stealth Elf and over to Camo and Flashwing, sourly sitting next to them. He set his bow down to his side, and looked away from Stealth Elf.

The two tall elves had strange, dress-like things on. The male one's obviously wasn't a dress though, because he was wearing pants beneath it and it only came down to his upper thigh. The woman's however, went down to her ankles and Rider couldn't see any sort of pants on her. They bother were Life elves, though, as they both had the signature green skin and blue hair (and Rider knew they weren't Fire elves, or they would have had the small embers in their eyes).

The Tech elf made his way back over to Stealth Elf. "So?" He prodded her.

"The ride was fine, Toshiab, now hush," she talked to him just as shortly as she had Flameslinger.

"Alicia and Lucas!" Spyro gasped. He lowered his head and front legs in a bowing gesture. Rider, as well as Flameslinger and Hex, all immediately bowed as well. Alicia and Lucas had been the royal pair ruling over the Elven Kingdom for the past twenty-three years. They had been the rulers when they still lived there, so they knew very well who they were and what power they held.

The others looking confused. "We're sticking our butts in the air?" Red Fizz asked, wrinkling his face. "What kind of gesture is that?"

"It's called a bow, you imbecile!" Hex shot at him scathingly.

"Oh! So _that's _what a bow is! You stick your butt in the air," he grinned and proceeded to bow down, ignoring Hex's tone. Red Fizz really didn't have a butt to speak or, but his rear was in the air.

Stealth Elf ran her hand down her face in embarrassment. "Ignore him and the blue gremlin, they're both mentally defective," she said, her voice muffled by her hand.

Spyro stood up and glared at Red Fizz and Pop Fizz, who was doing the same as his brother. "Both of you, we have a king and a queen in our midst! At least try to act civilized!"

"A king and a queen?!" Both brothers sputtered and stopped bowing at once. "Heh heh, sorry madam and mister!"

The two royal elves ignored it. Flameslinger, Rider, and Hex pulled out of their bowing positions and looked at them with their full attention. Rider was still ecstatic over how he now knew he hadn't done anything to Stealth Elf at all, and that she was fine.

Alicia spoke first. "Stealth Elf was attacked by a dragon and managed to get herself free on our land. We have brought her back to you, and offer our help against the forces of the Dragon's Peak Darkness that is rising. We will also return you to your Citadel by use of our dinghy."

"By offering our help," Lucas took up the statement, clearing his throat. "We offer our army, armada, and anything else you can think of, for a war of the Skylanders is a war of Skylands, therefore I believe every creature must do its best to stop the enemy from uprising."

At this, Spyro, along with everyone else, stood open-mouthed, gaping like idiots.

"Might want to shut your mou'zes before a fly flies in," Flameslinger said, regaining his composure. Shortly after, mostly everyone else had stopped staring at the two royal elves stupidly.

Spyro stopped gaping and nodded. "R-right… I need to go back to your kingdom first. I need to drop off Paola and pick up Sunburn."

"So _that_'_s_ what that blip on the map was!" A different one of the bronze-skinned elves cried, shaking a circular device in his hands. "I thought it was just being a piece of crap. I wired it to pick up beings that took the Grand Oath, which only Skylanders take when they are first made a Skylander. But doing that is hard work because the Grand Oath—hey, what's your problem?"

Stealth Elf had marched over to him and yanked the machine out his hand. "You mean to tell me we could have saved ourselves the trip and gotten him?" She groaned loudly. "This ought to be fun…"

"No problem, no problem," Lucas nodded. "We will take the majority of you home, and Spyro can come with us to drop off Paola and pick up his friend."

Spyro sighed with relief. "Thanks, the Skylanders owe you both."

"We do not work in such ways," Alicia waved him off.

"Let's all go," Lucas said cheerfully. "Everyone, in."

Rider went to walk forward, and he saw Stealth Elf lay eyes on him. She stared at him the entire time he walked onto the dinghy, making him feel a little uncomfortable. Lucas, Alicia, Stealth Elf, and the Tech elves were the last into the dinghy. Stealth Elf kept shooting him distrusting looks.

Worry began to settle in Rider's chest. What was she looking at him like that for? Maybe Nega had done something to her, and he just didn't physically hurt her…?

Before the dinghy took off into the air, something shot from the bushes. It took Rider a second to recognize Kaz's dark hair and indigo scales.

He was panting. Spyro weaved around the others in the dinghy, walking out to meet him.

"Where have you been?" He growled.

Kaz merely looked back up at him. He didn't answer.

Spyro lashed his tail. "Where's Jade?"

Kaz, yet again, did not answer. He dipped his head though, and clenched his eyes shut.

Spyro seemed to have something confirm in his head, like a switch was turned. He leapt onto Kaz and pinned him to the ground. "I've had enough doubt and suspicion surrounding your name! The only reason I haven't said anything lately is because I wanted to be sure! If you took my defense of you for granted, if you have torn us apart from the inside, go ahead and spit it out! Because I'm not dealing with this anymore! Your life depends on what you say!"

"—en I –ess I'm –one for, -ecause I can't say an—ng at a—," Kaz mouthed, narrowing his eyes. "—ou might n— want to m— any has— dec—ons –ough, -ecause I –ave some ra— inter—ing in—tion to share w— you."

Rider had no idea what he just 'said' (mouthed, really). Spyro didn't seem to understand either. "Double Trouble! Hex! Roy! Can any of you make out what he's saying?"

"Of course I can," Hex said smoothly, floating out of the dinghy. "'Then I guess I'm done for, because I can't say anything at all. You might not want to make any hasty decisions, though, because I have some rather interesting information to share with you.' That's what he said."

Spyro turned his red eyes on Kaz and bared his teeth. "Where is Jade?"

"D—d."

"'Dead'," Hex translated, her face going unnaturally pale, even for her.

Rider practically stopped breathing. He had no way of knowing what Nega had done when he came out last night…. What if he had killed Jade? What if Kaz had seen?

Oh, if only he could know what Nega _had _done! Then he wouldn't have to sit around speculating what he _could have _done!

"What?! She can't be!" Flashwing shoved her way out of the dinghy as well, spreading her wings in disbelief. "She can't be! What did you do to her?!" Flashwing rounded on Kaz, raising her tail in preparation for shooting a shard at him.

"I –idn't –o any—ng. A— did."

"'I didn't do anything. Ala did'," Hex translated again, her voice coming out slower than usual.

Rider wanted to melt away. Guilt was clawing at his insides. Worry too.

"And who's Ala?" Spyro glared at Kaz again.

"We haven't got all day!" Paola shouted angrily. "Grill him for information later! I have a home to get back to, and you still have a Skylander to pick up!"

"Can I slap 'er? Please?" Flameslinger asked, though it wasn't playful by any means. He sounded quite serious and irritated. "She's been no'zing but an annoying prick."

"_You're _one to talk! I've never heard such corny jokes in my life! I know a chameleon t'at knows better jokes t'an you do!" She spat at him.

Flameslinger didn't look at her, he merely clenched his fists in restraint. Stealth Elf made her way over to him, but he didn't even acknowledge her. When she touched his shoulder, he shrugged her off harshly.

Spyro gave Paola a nasty look and Flashwing looked ready to burst with anger, but all the same, they returned to the dinghy. Spyro kept his eyes on Kaz as the dragon followed him.

Hex returned to the dinghy and floated next to Rider. "What happened last night?" She growled. "Don't play dumb with me, you've been jumpier than a rabbit this entire time. Elven sorceress; remember?"

He gulped and looked down. "I'll have to tell you later. As for now, we just need to get Sunburn and go back to the Citadel."

* * *

**Riley**

* * *

"I think if we attacked the ship from within and sank it, it could drown them," Wham-Shell suggested hopefully. "I mean, they're seadogs, right? They need air, right? Which means they can drown, r—"

"If he says 'right?' one more time, I'm going to drown him," Riley hissed agitatedly.

"Er, how? I breathe underwater…"

"Never mind! I guess it could work. But we have a bit of a problem. I need air to breathe, and if we sink the ship while we're in it, I'm going to get caught in the debris, and it goes from there…" Riley sighed. "And I'm sure Frightbeard or whatever his name is has enchanted the ship to be unsinkable by now. He's a seadog from ten thousand years ago; I'm sure he's picked up a trick or two."

"You're both kind of right and kind of wrong," the mermaid interrupted them, shaking her head doubtfully. "Yes, they need air to breathe, of course; but from their years within the Chest of Exile, they have learned other magic. They are not the only beings in the Chest of Exile. There are evil, dark sorcerers, and spell punks. By releasing the Phantom Tide, you've released them as well. But never mind them, I'm sure the gillman and crustacean settlements around here will deal with them…

"Captain Frightbeard can cast certain enchantments on his ship. One is to make it invisible to eyes he does not want to see, another is to make it unsinkable, and another is to trap air inside it and make a bubble of air around it if it does sink. While drowning would work, it'd be virtually impossible. My suggestion is we simply use the best of our abilities to confront him and fight him head-on," she finished.

Riley and Wham-Shell gaped at her and spoke in unison. "Are you crazy? He's got a sword and a whole pirate crew!"

"I know that. Aren't you both Skylanders? Call for back up!" She exclaimed in exasperation.

"How? I'm a crustaceous, undersea king, or at least were. Do I look like I carry around a Verzene cell phone?" He demanded, crossing his arms.

"Not exactly," she muttered.

Riley closed her eyes, deep in thought. If this was a pirate ship, there was some kind of communicator on it. There had to be. She had seen and even fought pirates before, back at her homeland. They raided and attacked every now and again. They were a troublesome breed. While most would be locked in the big house for their nasty deeds, those who couldn't be caught could do terrible things. One thing she had noticed though, was that they stuck together, like wolves in a pack.

"So there's a communicator," she concluded aloud. "There's a communicator on this ship somewhere. It might be old and odd compared to the ones we have today, but there should still be a communicator on this ship. We're going to have to sneak from below deck and get up there to the communicator."

"I can't move from here, I need the water to keep me wet," Elli murmured.

"Not a good idea if I do it. I'm a clunky lobster man holding a mace… Wait… Riley, you can't! You don't have attacks like us, all you can do is shoot water and bite!" He cried.

"Thanks for summing that up," she growled sourly. "It doesn't matter. I'm going whether you like it or not, so get over it. I'll call for help. Problem is, what should I call help to? More than likely, it's only going to send out signals strong enough to contact other pirate fleets."

"Well, I have heard of one good pirate crew…" Wham-Shell sighed. "A fleet of mermasquid. Their captain is Wash Buckler. But it might be hard to contact them."

"Doesn't matter," Riley narrowed her eyes in concentration. "I'll try anyway." She looked up. All that separated her from above deck was some wood. "Wham-Shell, I need to get up there… Can you be quiet about it though?"

"Smashing stuff with a mace isn't quiet," he grumbled. "But I'll try."

He gently pushed upward with his mace, poking the wood. He shoved it upward slowly, and the wood began to crack. He gritted his teeth and heaved upward hard, tearing a hole through the deck.

"That was not quiet!" Elli whispered harshly.

"Shh!" Riley shushed them. "We're going to have to stay quiet for a while. When I'm sure nobody's paying attention to us, I'll go up there and try to get to the communicator. If you hear me roar, then you know something's gone wrong, and we all just fight them head-on."

* * *

**Rider**

* * *

Rider watched as the two royal elves steered the dinghy smoothly and surely around a large island full of running, jumping, and playing Water elves. They all had blue skin of all different shades, and hair ranging from shades of green to blue to white. But they weren't headed there. They were headed to a small, floating rock in the sky high above that island.

Flameslinger had actually called it a rock in the sky, and Paola had nearly killed him over it, but Spyro had separated them. Stealth Elf was still trying to get Flameslinger's attention, but he ignored her every time she did so.

The two elves landed the dinghy. "What did you say your friend's names were?" Alicia asked Paola.

She glared up at her icily. "Celsius and Ryan. T'e Skylander's name is Sunburn."

A painful memory bubbled to the surface of Rider's mind. Celsius had been Chill's best friend for a long, long time…. And Rider had once done his best to kill him.

_Inside, he grabbed his spear, and jumped onto Fright, bursting out of the barn in a furious, blind rage. She was no different from his father, Zack, Zane, none of them! She and Celsius—they were both the same! He pointed his spear straight forward and kicked Fright's left thigh hard. The ostrich went charging forward. _

_Once Chill and Celsius realized he was coming it was too late. Rider tagged Celsius' arm with his spear, leaving a deep, scarring gash. The male Thaumaturge was thrown backwards. He hit a bush and groaned in pain as he dazedly got back to his feet._

Rider shivered at the memory. Then, he had been overly reckless. Then, he had lost his head. He hadn't understood what all was going on… and he still didn't. But he did know that he shouldn't have done that… That had been what had caused the biggest of rifts within his and Chill's relationship.

The elven queen nodded. "Celsius! Ryan! Sunburn!"

The island was pitifully small. A few trees surrounded two old-looking, dusty houses. Out of one, an older, full-grown male thaumaturge came out. He had thinning blonde hair and blue eyes. He held an icy dagger in his hand, and glared at them. "What do you all want?" He asked. "What do you want wit' t'e Skylander Sunb—Paola!" He dropped the dagger when he saw her.

She ran out of the dinghy and stood behind him. "Now give t'em Sunburn, for Kholi's sake!"

"What's happening?" Another male thaumaturge came out. Rider flinched at him. He could recognize that he was Celsius, but his left ear had been torn most of the way off and he was burned from his ear down to his lower forearm. He raised an icy spear and glared at them. "Ryan, who are t'ey? Paola, where have you been?"

"Calm down, everyone!" Lucas called out gruffly. "I am sorry for the rude awakening, but the Skylanders have asked us to come here and pick up Sunburn and drop off Paola."

"So t'at's where you wormed off to!" Ryan snapped at Paola, glaring at her. Rider noticed, when his eyes flashed in anger at her, that one was pale and milky-colored. "You went to fetch t'e Skylanders to get rid of Sunburn even t'ough he was saying he would be able to fly back home today. You're so impatient and so ready to pick a fight wit' t'e world, it's exasperating!" He shot at her.

Paola stood her ground, no matter how short she was. "Do you want a repeat of ten-t'ousand-sixty-t'ree? Because I don't!" She shouted.

10063 was the year the thaumaturges lost their kingdom to the cyclopses and trolls. The current year was 10065. As far as anyone knew, Skylands had been around for five times as long as Earth had, but many speculated it had been around for far longer. The worldwide year, however, was officially accepted as 10065.

"If you're so worried about a repeat, t'en pack your bags and go somewhere else!" Ryan snarled at her. "I've heard enough out of you! You show your feelings so nastily! Can't you just believe t'ere is peace, just for a short amount of time? Hell, I'd be t'ankful if it was just five seconds!"

She didn't respond, she simply glared at him. Rider swore she tried to make her gaze more hateful, but he wasn't sure if that was possible.

"Ahem," a deep voice interrupted. Sunburn came stepping out of the same house as Ryan, his feathers illuminating the naturally dark island. "Spyro?"

"Sunburn!" Camo came shooting out of the dinghy, knocking Stealth Elf off balance and spinning Rider in a circle. Hex steadied him.

Camo tackled him to the ground in a sort of dragon's hug, squeezing the life out of him. Sunburn laughed and grinned up at him. "Well! I think someone missed me. Just a guess, of course."

Camo jumped off him and cleared his throat in embarrassment from his outburst, and tried to smooth out his voice. "So—uh—how's the telekonics or whatever going?"

"Really depends on what you mean by that. Telekinesis is moving stuff with your mind, talking with others through your mind is telepathy, and collectively, both can be called telekinetics, or at least I think so," he shook his head. "I dunno, never paid attention to grammar lessons."

Rider smiled a bit. That was how a perfect friendship should be like. Happy to see each other, able to joke about anything… He'd really only had that when he was fourteen and younger…

Spyro walked forward and stared at Sunburn. "What happened while you were gone?"

The phoenix-dragon's face immediately fell darker and more serious. He sighed and closed his eyes. "That's a long story. And I'd prefer to tell you privately and away from here. Thanks, Paola," he turned and nodded to her. "For getting the Skylanders. And I'm not being sarcastic. Ryan, Celsius, lay off her."

Paola blinked in surprise at him. She then narrowed her eyes in suspicion at him.

Sunburn ignored her and walked up to Spyro into the dinghy, Camo following so close he was almost stepping on his feathery tail.

"Camo, can I have some room to walk?" Sunburn asked him jokingly.

"Heh, sorry," he laughed sheepishly, walking over to Stealth Elf and one of the Tech elves, sitting down next to them.

The Tech elf was trying to create conversation with Stealth Elf. "So, we're heading back to the Citadel, right? Isn't there on there with the name of Drobot? I hear he's very smart. I have always wondered about how the games the humans created can connect the real elemental magic of Skylands with the technology of a simplistic console and how your frozen forms can be sent through a gap of space and time utilizing such mediocre pieces of machinery."

Stealth Elf blinked at him. "I didn't understand a word when Drobot explained it, so you can ask him yourself. I swear, he was speaking a language all his own."

"At least he isn't like those fairies. Oh my, you should hear them try to speak the Ohalamer language! It's hilarious!"

"We have," Stealth Elf gritted her teeth bitterly. "Persephone was one. And she's dead," she growled dismissively.

Rider saw Flameslinger smirk at the Tech elf smugly as he backed away from Stealth Elf, like he'd been rejected (which he pretty much had).

The royal elven pair called a farewell to Celsius, Ryan, and Paola, and then took off for the Skylanders' Citadel. Nothing much happened on the ride back to the Citadel. Fright tried talking to Rider about what was wrong, but he ignored him. Hex did too. He eventually got irritated and told her off. Normally, she would have turned it into a scene (as it usually ended up as such these days) but she simply nodded understandingly and left him to his thoughts.

Camo and Sunburn couldn't stay quiet to save their lives.

"That cloud looks like Eon," Camo said, pointing at a cloud that looked like a dandelion to Rider.

"It looks like a fish to me," Sunburn said, wrinkling his nose.

"Don't let Gill hear you say that, or see your face," Camo laughed, mocking Sunburn's disgusted face.

"Hey, Flame, what's that cloud look like to you?" Sunburn poked Flameslinger's shoulder and pointed at a cloud that looked like a wizard's hat to Rider.

"Your mom," Flameslinger grumbled, moving away from him.

Sunburn didn't say anything else for a few more minutes, rather he flinched like someone had been about to hit him and looked down at the ground, sighing deeply. Rider blinked in confusion. Flameslinger had only said 'your mom'. It was a stupid joke and was used a lot, but in the end, it was only a joke.

About a quiet thirty minutes later, one of the Tech elves spoke. "We'll be at the Citadel in about five minutes."

In pretty much exactly that amount of time, they arrived at the Citadel. The elves landed the dinghy, and everyone filed out, except for the Tech elves and the king and queen. Queen Alicia sighed and looked at Stealth Elf in a way to Rider that looked like yearning. Stealth Elf seemed to squirm under her gaze.

King Lucas cleared his throat and spoke clearly. Skylanders gathered around, and questions were fired like gunshots. "Calm, everyone! I'm sure Spyro will explain. As for now, Alicia and I must depart back for home. We offer our services, though, to you all. Remember that," with that, he climbed into the dinghy and they steered it into the air. One of the Tech elves waved to Stealth Elf from over the side of the banister of it as it flew away.

Flameslinger grinded his teeth together visibly, and stalked off towards the Tree of Life. Rider was just glad to be back at the Citadel. While Spyro jumped on the Core of Light and went to explain what was going on, he went and sat down by the tree that was at the very end of the Citadel. It was on the hilltop that leaned into the sky. Normally the giants occupied the area, but they were surrounding the Core of Light at the moment. He sat there and stared off into the sky.

What had he done?

Before Spyro could start talking, Chill jumped onto the Core and began talking to him.

"Spyro, Cynder was corrupted by a dark dragon while you were gone. We have restrained her for t'e time being, but we don't know how to reverse her spell, or Sonic Boom's for t'at matter. Wham-Shell and Riley have also gone missing…" She hung her head. "We're so sorry. Me most of all. I was captain of a queen's guard for once, hell, I should have been able to keep everyone here…"

Spyro ignored her and jumped to the ground, running over to Cali's hut. Rider couldn't see that well, as he was very far away, but he could see Cynder chained to the deck, Ghost Roaster sitting close by with a purple force field around him.

Fright came meandering over to Rider, ignoring the commotion. "You know what's coming next," Fright said. "Spyro's going to go hysterical and you're going to act like a hero and go over to him and say you can reverse it."

"I can," Rider said bitterly. "My soul's been tainted evil and you know it. I can reverse the spells used on both her and Sonic Boom, but you have to be away from me for a long time before it'll work."

"And that's not going to happen," Fright growled, sitting down next to him.

Just as Rider went to reply, something grabbed hold of his shirt. It yanked him off the edge of the island, pulling him down and off it. Fright squawked and called to him, just as whatever was holding him began to fly away.

"Rider! Rider—"

Fright's voice was cut out as the creature holding him flew too far from him for his telepathy to work. Rider, eyes wide and panicking, looked up. A creature he'd hoped he'd never see ever again was holding him…

Cadaver.

* * *

**Riley**

* * *

"We'll do it," Wham-Shell growled, but it'll have to wait. It's getting late. Even pirates sleep, right?"

"Yes," Elli nodded. "We can wait until tomorrow. More than likely, Frightbeard is heading to get a replacement weapon. He's been ranting on about how his sword was dull anyhow when Thumpback made it the lock to the Chest of Exile. He's probably heading to a dealer right as we speak."

"Good for us, then," Riley murmured. She put her head on her paws, and the water licking at her relieved her. The very bottom of the ship had about three centimeters or so of water on it, and it rocked with the same beat of the ocean. She enjoyed it.

* * *

_**The next day (same day as Rider's POV)**_

* * *

Wham-Shell hoisted Riley up onto his shoulders. Her head was very close to his face. "Please be careful," he whispered to her. "Please." Before she could respond, he pushed her out the hole he had created the day before.

Riley slithered immediately behind a few barrels on the ship's deck. Her leg had long since come unwrapped from its bandage, and it was aching slightly, but she didn't allow that to stop her.

Luckily, nobody saw her sneak out from the hole. Frightbeard was bigger than most seadogs. Riley was at the middle of the ship; he was at the front, the helm of it. Riley snapped her toes like fingers. She had to get to that helm to get to the communicator.

The rest of his crew were sitting towards the back of the ship, where they all sat around a square table, playing Skystones. She ship was rather beautiful, if she had to say so herself. It was well-taken care of, and it had, in the back, a tower-like place for the crew to sleep in. Riley knew there'd be beds and food stored back in the silver compartment.

The wood on the top of the deck was old, and weak due to being sodden with water, but it didn't appear filthy with seaweed or anything like that. The captain's helm looked relatively clean as well. She'd have to wait for Frightbeard to move, though...

"Hey! Captain!" One of the seadogs barked.

"What is it, Peglegs?"

"There's a huge hole in the deck!"

"A hole! In MY ship's deck?" Captain Frightbeard roared, turning from the helm and marching back to them.

Riley took her chance and scooted along so they wouldn't see her. She took to hiding behind a few crates. The communicator was so close... She broke her cover and ran into the captain's helm.

"This is Riley speaking from Captain Frightbeard's Phantom Tide! I am a prisoner looking for the pirate crew fleet of mermasquid and the captain Wash Buckler! I repeat, we are in danger and need the pirate crew fleet of mermasquid by the captain Wash Buckler!"

"What is she doing? I want that dragon CAPTURED!" Frightbeard snarled.

"You're going to leave her alone!" Wham-Shell shouted as he too jumped form the hole in the deck, swinging his mace around threateningly. "Keep calling Riley, I'll keep'em busy!"

* * *

**Rider**

* * *

Cadaver kept flying. Rider squirmed and kicked and raised hell. He'd rather be dead than flying with this dragon! "Get your filthy claws off me!" He yelled. "What the hell do you want now? Haven't you fucked up my life enough?!"

"No! I need to finish corrupting you, or it's my head!" Cadaver hissed back at him. Rider noticed that one of his front legs was hanging sort of limply. He angrily swung himself back and forth, like a swing on a swingset, and kicked it once he gained enough momentum.

Cadaver squealed and dug his claws into Rider's back. "Cut that out!"

"You drop me!" Rider snarled.

Cadaver flew overtop a heavily forested island and flew down to land on it. He dropped Rider there and landed close by, glaring at him with his ice-blue eyes. The glowing red marks of the undead littered his forehead and back, down to the base of his tail. He spoke again. "You know what's coming next, so don't even bother fighting."

"Of course I know," Rider said miserably. He had been ready to fight, but in the end, he knew there'd truly be no point in it. Cadaver and Corpse had both been the ones that corrupted him a year ago. They could control him like he was a toy of theirs. He practically belonged to them. He sighed. "Go ahead and bring Nega to the surface. Not like I can stop you anyway."

It was true. He was nothing but a burden to anyone. He had probably been the one that had killed Jade. Kaz had probably seen. Stealth Elf might have too, the way she kept staring at him during that ride back... They both were going to sell him out, it was almost certain.

Then what? He'd face more ridicule and even if Spyro managed to throw it off his shoulders, nobody would ever truly accept him back. It just didn't matter anymore. He was so tired of fighting.

Fighting for his heritage, his soul's status, fighting with his own emotions, his parents, alcohol, Hex, he was just... Tired of it all. That had been all he'd done all his life. Fight. And for what? To live a depressed and horrible existence that only endangered others? It was stupid. Retarded. And everything else in between. He was nothing but a burden to everyone else.

If that was the case, then he might as well go out with a bang. When Nega took over him, he couldn't feel what was happening, and didn't know. Hopefully, the Skylanders would be forced to end up killing him. Then he'd be gone for good. It'd be better that way.

"Do what you will."

"I really do hate it when you don't put up a fight, but considering where my life's hanging right at this second, I'll be glad for your cooperation. _Infintumn_!"

* * *

**So, I actually really liked this chapter. I'm sorry, I sort of got lazy with Riley's part... And I'm hating the last part for some reason... ugh. Stupid brain. Ermahgerd Swap Force is going to throw me for such a loop and I'm going to get so laaaaaazyyyy.**


	28. I Said Lab, That Doesn't Mean Potion Lab

_**I Said Lab, That Doesn't Mean Potion Lab**_

* * *

_**Ala**_

* * *

"Call off Agua, Cadaver, Kaz, and Aquamarine," he said. "Call them all off. It's getting far too chaotic. We need to gain favor from some communities and we also need to give the Skylanders a false sense of security."

Ala shook her head. "Kaz was a traitor. I believe he is dead," as she spoke, her voice quivered. Even she lost her nerve near him.

He turned dark crimson eyes on her. They also had orange in them, mixed with the crimson, but they were cold and calculating all the same. "You did _what_?"

"I… I silenced him," this time, she did not dare to say she had killed him. After all, her sensors had been going haywire thanks to Agua's presence in Sapphire Lake, and she swore she had seen him breathe after she'd left. "I used a spell to silence him."

"I want him recaptured and at my feet! I'll have him decapitated for his betrayal! EON!" He turned to the aged, fading Portal Master. He was locked away in one of his contraptions, a purple, misty cage made of pure Magic. There was no physical part to the cage. If you touched it, you could possibly go through it. But it was able to keep Eon inside because Eon himself was not a physical being. He was a heavenly body. But at the same time, he could be destroyed easily. The cage would stop him from going through it because it was dark, and full of sinister Magic that Eon couldn't stand to be near.

Even Eon had not seen his Magic before. Ala knew that all too well.

"Yes?" Eon croaked.

"I need a favor from you. You do know a spell to bring people back to life, yes?" He asked greedily.

"Of course I do! But I'm not using it in your favor!" Eon yelled, obviously flustered thanks to the horrible Magic cage he was in. "I wouldn't even use it for the Skylanders! Of course I won't use it for you."

"I find that very difficult to believe," he spoke with a velvet-like tone. "I have captured Cynder, Sonic Boom, Rider, and I should have more of your Skylanders on my side soon enough. Hex is looking like easy prey, and Chop Chop and Eye-Brawl shouldn't be too hard."

"You're a monster. Taking advantage of how the Darkness has a special effect on the Undead elements is horrible. You know what it does to them, and you take advantage of it," Eon spat. "I wouldn't help you if my life depended on it."

"Considering where you are at this moment," he growled, "your life DOES depend on it. And my suggestion is, tell me what you know. Tell me the name of this spell. Thanks to your Skylanders, I am missing Geo, Boulder, Thor, and now, Kaz, for he has betrayed us. Do you not know what power I possess? I could launch a full-scale attack on the Citadel right now, destroy the Core of Light, kill most of your oh-so-precious Skylanders, and allow the Darkness free reign across Skylands! I am a ruler in the making!"

"'In-the-making'. You haven't accomplished anything yet," Eon told him. "All the same, I will not tell you anything I know, and you won't kill me unless I do, so don't even try to play that game with me."

Ala gulped and backed away from them. "D-Deu Sol? Sir? Do you want me to send a message out to all of them right now?"

"Do so. I'll deal with Eon later. As for now, I want all my dragons back here at Dragon's Peak, and come up with a new plan. Just in case. If Kaz has turned traitor, even if you've silenced him, he might be able to tell them about us in another way. There are many Magic elemental beings there. We'll shift our plans. Give them a false sense of security. As for Eon… We'll keep him here, safe and sound, and let Spyro think he's been abandoned. That purple dragon can't take but so much. Kaz has already played with his mind and I'm sure Cynder's corruption—wasn't she pregnant?—will do the same."

"Right," Ala nodded to him.

Deu Sol was a dark dragon. He was long, very long. Maybe sixty or so feet? Nobody really knew for sure. Deu Sol had been alive for a very long time, thanks to the fact he was already dead. His power never waned, even then, though, for in the underworld, he was helped along by many powerful beings thanks to his charm, power, and looks. Before he had changed permanently, he had been a sun dragon. His name meant 'sun god'.

"Call them off. Cadaver, Agua, Aquamarine, and then if you find Kaz… do not kill him. I will keep that pleasure to myself."

Ala nodded vigorously. "R-right. Right sir."

"In the meantime… I shall garner favor from the drow, forces of the underworld, and I'll see if I can contact somebody the Portal Masters and Skylanders are VERY familiar with, even if he is an imbecile. Hear that, Eon? I'm sure you know EXACTLY who I'm talking about." The way he had a purr in his tone sent cold tremors through Ala.

Eon didn't respond to Deu Sol's taunt. He merely glared after him with his icy blue eyes. "You'll kill him out of annoyance before you can get him to do anything," Eon muttered.

"Quiet, you!" Ala spat at him.

Eon merely looked back at her. "Oh, Ala. You hail from a dying breed of dragons. Why do you choose to have them remembered as supporters of a remorseless tyrant? You could do many great things yourself, good things, yet you choose him."

Ala bristled. "Don't try and play mind games with me, old timer! I've got better things to do than sit here and chat with you," she hissed, turning and flying off the edge of the Dragon's Peak Dragon Throne Island.

Deu Sol sat on the throne, grinning sadistically at nothing in particular. Ala knew he could also control telepathy, and that he'd be contacting the leaders of the drow, different leaders from the underworld, and whoever he had been talking about through that.

* * *

_**Kaz**_

* * *

Kaz looked up from where he sat and at Cynder. She was now black where violet had once been, and her Mark of the Undead was red, and was multiplied all the way down her back. Her wings shone silver rather than their violet-pink, and her underbelly was pure red. Spyro made his way over to her, a panicked look on his face. "What happened?"

"T'at's what I was telling you before you interrupted me," Chill said, sounding a little annoyed. "Cadaver—"

"Cadaver?" Kaz went to echo, but of course, no sound came out. He jumped to his feet and hoped he could roar. If he couldn't make words, maybe he could just make sounds. He gave a loud, throaty roar.

Many turned their eyes on him.

"Say it, don't spray it," Ninjini said, her voice sounding more like a sneer than anything. "I swear, if we're going to keep a killer here, can we at least teach him manners?"

He glared at her. "This is not the time!" He tried hissing, though that's all it came out as, a hiss.

Fright, the dumb Undead ostrich, suddenly came dashing in the midst, taking all attention from Kaz. He was panting and his eyes were dilated, even though he was already dead. "R… Rider! Something just grabbed him!" A rather high-pitched male voice entered Kaz's head and he jumped suddenly, looking around.

"I said that," the voice sounded again. As it did, Fright gave a loud squawk, and all eyes went on him.

"You're talking to us in our heads?" Warnado asked, tilting his head.

"Yes, but there's no time! Somebody just snatched Rider off the side of the Citadel!"

"Rider's gone?" Hex immediately spoke up. Her eyes shot as wide as saucers almost automatically. "Where? What happened?"

"CALM DOWN!" Chill yelled abruptly, breaking them all up. "For Kholi's sake, let me get a word out my mout'! More t'an likely, it was Cadaver. Cadaver is Cynder's brot'er, but he's evil, and he's t'e one who corrupted her and more t'an likely, Sonic Boom. He's probably snatched Rider in hopes of turning him evil." Chill was on the side of the Core of Light, her face screwed up in thought.

Hex spoke loudly. "Then we have to go get him!"

"Right away," Fright added, nodding very quickly. "We have to. We really have no choice. There's no telling what could happen, I mean, Rider and dark Magic have never mixed well—"

"Tell me about it," Hex interrupted.

"What are you two going on about?" Spyro asked them, going up to Fright.

Fright sighed. "I'm sure everyone here has heard rumors about me and Rider. Well, some are true, some aren't. Basically, a year ago, when Rider got sent to the underworld, he met Cadaver and Hex. Hex was left when Cadaver erased her memory and basically hypnotized her. After that, Cadaver and Rider started trying to find a way out of the underworld. Cadaver pretended to be a dragon that had just accidentally wandered into the underworld for a good six or so months. But towards the end, Corpse—another dark dragon—and Cadaver both seized their chance and tried corrupting Rider.

"Well, while they were doing all that, I was working on getting to the underworld. As Ghost Roaster knows, I visited him and ate some skele-oats. I went to the underworld and I tried to save Rider, but instead, I interrupted the corruption, causing massive effects on both of us because the corruption was incomplete and the Magic in the air unstable.

"It took the energy that was in both of us, because it was still unstable, and the positive and negative energies broke away from one another. I became the positive, Rider became the negative. When that happened, two alter egos were also created within us. Rider's is Nega, mine is Signel.

"Well, of course, Rider learned quick that if he used any sort of dark Magic he'd learned in the underworld, it gave Nega an easy way to take control of him—trust me, I remember it clear enough—and after a while, he just gave up on the dark Magic, telepathy, all of it completely.

"Of course, we fled the underworld as fast as we could with Hex's help from the Skylanders and we haven't seen Corpse and Cadaver… until now, anyway. If Cadaver's back and he's got Rider, bad things are going to go down quick," Fright finished.

"Anybody understand ANY of that?" Pop Fizz asked obnoxiously.

Kaz needed to bring their attention back on him. He had to tell them all he knew! Agua was probably on her way to attack right at that very moment! But nobody was paying him any more attention.

Spyro looked horrorstruck. He looked back at Cynder, who was smirking at him dangerously while flicking her tail back and forth like a relaxed cat. She wasn't worried in the least bit, even if everybody knew she had been turned dark and all that. Ghost Roaster was sitting a few feet away from her. He had a protective force field around him, but his mace and chain were being used to hold Cynder there.

"So, wanna play cards?" Ghost Roaster suddenly asked Cynder.

She snorted and looked at him. "Don't make me come over there through that force field."

"I'd like to see you try," Ghost Roaster stuck his tongue out at her.

Spyro sighed and looked at the ground. "Hex, Tree Rex, Flameslinger, Chill, Drobot, Jet-Vac, and Prism Break, come with me into Hugo and Flynn's hut," he called, walking off toward the small home.

"I don't fit," Tree Rex said gruffly.

"'Course he don't fit! Guy's fifty thousand feet tall!" Sprocket exclaimed from over by her turrets near the launchpad next to the staircase that led to the beach. "What'cha expect? Remember, he's a giant, 'boo-yah'."

"I am not fifty –thousand feet tall," Tree Rex snorted. "Talk about a hyperbole."

"Hyperbawhat?" Hex blinked at him.

"Surprised you didn't know that one," Tree Rex chuckled, "since you're always telling us how much we all need a dictionary."

"Tell me what lackadaisical means," Hex growled.

"Lacking daisy?" Tree Rex guessed.

"Close enough," her lips twitched but she didn't giggle at him.

Kaz slashed through the dirt with his front claws. These Skylanders were running out of time! If they weren't going to listen to him, he was sticking his neck out for no reason. He was pretty much committing suicide for no reason at all.

* * *

_**Pop Fizz**_

* * *

Spyro looked back out across the crowd. "All of you go about your business! I will speak to these Skylanders alone, without ears listening in. Hugo, Cali, Flynn," he turned to look at them sitting on the porch of the house. "Please go inside. We're going to talk out here since Tree Rex doesn't fit."

"Right," Flynn nodded. "But if you need a stud around for any ladies, just go ahead and—"

"_Go inside, Flynn_!" Cali shoved him in annoyance, rolling her eyes.

Hugo followed nonchalantly, his nose too far buried in his book to really care what was going on.

"He nearly died and he's reading a book already? Geez," Flameslinger commented. "Alright, begone, all of 'vou!" He said, jumping on the railing of the porch and waving everyone away. "You heard 'ze dragon."

"Fine," Pop Fizz sighed and walked away. Terrafin, Red Fizz, and Hot Dog fell into place around him. "But why's Spyro just talking to them?"

"No idea," Red Fizz murmured.

"Weird. He never talks to everyone like that. He always has the same tone of voice and he's like a stick in the mud, once he makes up his mind, you can't change it, period," Pop Fizz made himself stiff like a board and poorly imitated Spyro's voice. "I am Spyro the Dragon, hear mah rawr, rawr."

Red Fizz slapped him on the back of the head, laughing. "Haha! Pretty much!"

"Okay, so remember how I was tellin' ya guys about my days back in the arenas? Oh yeah, now that was some crazy stuff! Lemme tell ya, I remember fightin' this one blaze brewer dude and he was a PAIN! But I put on my brass knuckles and boom, left hook, right hook, DOWN!" Terrafin exclaimed, interrupting them, and animatedly reenacting the boxing fight he was talking about. He accidentally stepped on Hot Dog's paw, who whimpered and stopped walking.

"Hey! Watch it!" He whined.

"Sorry, Hot Dog," Terrafin said apologetically. "But come on, tell me that wasn't cool!"

"It wasn't cool," Red Fizz snickered.

"Ya know what I meant," Terrafin nudged him on the shoulder.

"Yeah, of course I did. Anyway, hey, Pop Fizz, wanna show him that new potion we were making?" Red Fizz turned his big yellow eyes on Pop Fizz who grinned ear to ear (quite literally) and nodded. "Of course!"

"Should I go steal Chop Chop's shield first?" Terrafin asked.

"Haha, no, it's not an explosion or anything… I don't think. Wasn't it to give us the Easter bunny look, Pop Fizz?" Red Fizz asked him, scratching his head.

"Yeah, it was gonna turn us into Hoppity Pop Fizz and Hoppity Red Fizz! Here," Pop Fizz pulled out his regular orange potion, and Red Fizz pulled out a purple potion as well as a soda. He put them together and then added in a small dab of the green potion. Terrafin gaped.

"That green potion's poison!"

"Yup!" Pop Fizz sang.

"They're insane," he said. "Purely insane."

After mixing the potions, the two brothers poured them into separate cups and clinked them together, shouting "Cheers!", and chugged it down.

"I should just go get Whirlwind right now, shouldn't I?" Hot Dog asked, for once, not sounding like an overzealous puppy.

"Prob'ly," Terrafin muttered.

"No, no need!" Pop Fizz cried once he'd finished the potion. "Er… should be working any second now. Ah, yeah, there it is!" Both of them began to turn white, and became slightly shorter. The potions in their bags turned to colorful eggs, and their claws went silver.

"Oh yeah! I told you it would work!" Red Fizz and Pop Fizz said together, clapping their hands together once.

"Good. Now how are you going to get back?" Terrafin asked, looking impressed. Hot Dog began jumping around their feet.

"Hot dog! You both look like rabbits! RABBITS!" He barked, wagging his flaming tail wildly.

"Because we kind've are!" Red Fizz said cheerily.

Pop Fizz pointed a thumb back at Sonic Boom's old cave that stood between the brambles and a rock that was on the right side of the staircase that led to the beach. "I've got the reversal potion in there and the effects don't last for too long."

"Another question," Terrafin frowned in confusion. "How come ya took an Easter theme? That's an Earth holiday and is dead set in the middle of Sellitun. It's the end of Cobasot, the Day of the Undead'll be here soon. Halloween, I think, is what they call it on Earth."

"Yeah! Eye-Brawl came up with this really clever design to get into the Halloween spirit, and I thought it was really cool! We're in the middle of making that potion," Red Fizz and Pop Fizz spoke almost at the same time again.

"Should I tell him you use your poison potion for your potions?" Terrafin asked, raising a brow.

"Probably not," Pop Fizz said. "It might scare him, though I assure you, it's perfectly safe!"

"You don't even know what color you were when you were born, of course it's safe," Terrafin laughed, rolling his eyes. "You two are hopeless. You'll end up killing the ten thousand year old giant!"

"No we won't!" Pop Fizz cried. His fur began to revert back to the blue color. "Ah, there we go."

"How come all your potions last for ten seconds?" Hot Dog questioned, sitting down and trying to calm himself.

"So we can start doing other stuff!" Red Fizz exclaimed. The eggs in his bag were beginning to return to potion-filled bottles. Pop Fizz could feel his bag changing too as he grew slightly taller and the last of the white disappeared into blue on his fur.

"It gets boring if we get stuck in the same form for too long," Pop Fizz explained better. "And I do remember what color I was when I was born! Er… I think. Wasn't it like, bluish-green or something?"

"No idea," Red Fizz murmured. "I _think _I was orange and you were bluish-green. Whatever. Come on, we have to start on the soda experiment!"

"Oh boy, this should be good," Terrafin sarcastically put his hands on his hips. "Bet you this will be wonderful. I suggest everybody find a nice, safe, quiet place underground… considering there's a ground left when those two are done."

"I wanna see!" Hot Dog barked, running after Pop Fizz and Red Fizz.

* * *

_**Spyro**_

* * *

"So, what you're saying is, we move? Completely?"

"That's preposterous! The Skylanders have always lived at the Citadel! Sure, we travel around a lot and we're not here one hundred percent of the time, but we never pack up camp and move completely."

"Humph. I don't like it."

"My calculations indicate that with our current team status, I do not recommend such. Moving could cause confusion and cause more problems among ourselves. We're already broken."

"Broken how?" Spyro looked up from where he was sitting on the front steps of the porch. Tree Rex was gazing at him steadily from where he sat, off the side of the house, close to a few trees. Hex was floating near the door, her left shoulder leaning against the wall. Flameslinger was sitting on a table, his bow held at his side. Drobot was laying to Hex's left, his tail curled around him. Chill was standing near the banister of the porch, staring at Spyro with those striking blue eyes of hers. Prism Break was sitting on Spyro's right, and Jet-Vac was on his left.

"How?" Chill sounded ready to laugh. "Don't tell me you're going blind, Spyro. Of course you can see it as well as any of us can. We're breaking down. T'ere are just too many problems going on all at once. The dragons, personal problems, just, everyt'ing…" She zoned off for a moment and then shook her head, refocusing. "We've been separated, knocked around, some of us even killed. We've let a dangerous dragon into our midst. Some of us have been turned dark. We're just… breaking."

"There are more than fifty people here," Spyro reasoned. "Nobody's going to get along one-hundred percent of the time… And we can turn things around! We're the Skylanders, right?"

"Spyro, stop blinding yourself. The title Skylander does not mean indifferent powerhouse that doesn't have the same problems as anybody else," Hex's voice chimed in. "Chill's right. We have too many problems going on at once. And we're losing Skylanders. They're exposing how weak we are. Just because some of us are a bit more powerful than the rest doesn't mean we're invincible superheroes… We've entered our darkest hour and we have to come through it. But we need a new way of doing it, because this isn't working. And moving… you're asking for trouble. And what about Rider?" Spyro could tell Hex was barely managing to keep her cool.

"But I need a way to throw them off our trail!" Spyro jumped up. "I can't lose any more Skylanders! Do you know how I feel every time I lose somebody? When Scarlett was killed, I blamed myself because I wasn't able to protect her. And now Jade's dead… Then there was Polarity. I caused that one. I ordered everyone to attack, it startled Ace, and he killed her to regain control. It was stupid and useless! And I can send a party out later to get Rider." In truth, he wasn't thinking about Rider much. He was far too worried about losing anybody else to be worried about getting him back.

"Spyro, calm down," Flameslinger spoke up next. "Let's not move. Let's spread out."

"What do you mean?" All eyes were on Flameslinger and nobody really knew who asked the question.

"Spread out. Like, I go to 'ze Elven Kingdom, Hex goes back too, Tree Rex goes back to that factory area or wherever he came from, Pop Fizz and Red Fizz go back to their alchemist lab, Drobot goes back to his workshop, you know… Just spread out. 'Zey'll have to work twice as hard to find us all again and it'll 'zrow 'zem for a big loop," he explained. "Split up."

"But t'at…" Chill shook her head. "T'en how do we fight back? It'd take us days just to meet up and t'en what about t'e Core of Light? Leave it out in t'e open like t'at?"

"Maybe not leave it out in the open," Spyro dipped his head. "Tree Rex."

"Yes?" The giant raised his head in acknowledgement.

"Would it be trouble if you and the rest of the giants stayed here?" Spyro asked. "If the rest of the Skylanders and I move, we can try to make battle plans while we make sure we don't lose anyone. If you guys stay here, you can protect the Core of Light. We can call Ermit and have him bring Machine Ghost and his body back here to help guard the place."

Tree Rex frowned for a second. "Certain ones of the Giants will not like this," he said finally. "Eye-Brawl and Ninjini, for instance, will find it toughest to accept this. And what about Kaz? I thought you were going to question him."

"I am," Spyro growled. "Harshly."

"When we all raised suspicion before," Chill interrupted, "you blew everyone off and defended him. Why?"

Spyro sighed and dipped his head. "Because if I didn't I would have let him know I was on to him. He would have laid low and I would have never seen the real him. He got too comfortable and careless, and has exposed himself. While I'm not sure if he killed Jade or not, it's probably more likely than not. Long story short, I didn't want him to know I was on to him. I wish I could tell Ninjini how sorry I am for completely ignoring her. It pains me just to think about it. At first I was truly angry with her. But as time went on I began to see what she sees. I pray that one day, perhaps, we can get back on good terms…"

Jet-Vac chimed in next. "What about the Portal Masters? Ben and Sheila? Isn't there some way we could try to contact them?"

"No idea," Spyro sighed and shook his head. "I don't know. And Drobot, don't get any ideas. I can't afford to have you running off to your workshop that's out in the middle of nowhere," Spyro glared at the dragon as he began to make a humming sound that he always did when he was thinking hard.

"But Spyro, what if I made some sort of communicator?"

"It wouldn't matter anyway… They won't help us. Their mother is far too overprotective, and I don't blame her," Spyro looked up. "So, conclusion… we all move somewhere else, spread out across Skylands?"

"Maybe not spread out," Prism Break muttered. "Admittedly, that's kinda stupid. I think we should just move the majority of us someplace else so that we throw 'em off our trail for the time being. It might cause some problems, but we'll have to get over it."

"I'll try to convince Eye-Brawl and Ninjini to stay here at the Citadel to guard the Core of Light," Tree Rex said. "Time we took responsibility for the thing we helped create some ten thousand some-odd years ago."

Jet-Vac interrupted again. "What about Wham-Shell and Riley?"

Spyro's wings drooped. "We'll just have to hope they'll return on their own... I can't risk sending anybody right now."

Hex looked ready to burst with something, but kept her mouth shut tight. They all looked disheartened, but didn't say anything more.

"Then it's settled," Spyro nodded. He changed to his dark alter ego, his orange spots turning silver and his purple scales turning black. "And I have a dragon to interrogate."

* * *

_**Kaz**_

* * *

"And where do you think you're going?" Flashwing's voice was like an alarm to Kaz. He immediately folded his wings back to his side and looked behind him. The Tree of Life and the other trees and bushes around it blocked most of his view. But then, Flashwing leapt at him out of nowhere.

"Where's my sister?" Flashwing hissed, her tail raised and pointed at his forehead. "I don't care whether you can talk or not, mouth it out, scratch it in a tree, you're _GOING _to tell me _HOW _my sister died and _WHY _she's dead," he slate-eyes were as hard as the rock itself, and the crystal at the end of her tail was beginning to light with a crystal shard preparing to fire out of it.

Kaz glared up at her and then threw her off, leaving a scratch on her shoulder. "Don't touch me!" He spat at her, though of course, she heard nothing. "I could kill you if I wanted to!"

Flashwing looked at him and narrowed her eyes. "Don't you dare move," she hissed. "Spyro!" She yelled. "Come here!"

"What?" Kaz was slightly caught off-guard to see Spyro walk over to them, because he was in his dark alter-ego. Flashwing didn't look surprised at all.

"Kaz here was just trying to sneak off," she growled. "He's looking pretty guilty right about now if you ask me."

"Do I know," Spyro nodded and locked his red eyes on Kaz. He jumped forward and grabbed him. Kaz immediately began kicking and lashing his claws out, determined to get away. He knew how this would end, just as all other interrogations he had seen ended. The interrogator would get what information he wanted, then kill who he interrogated. At least, that's how it had always worked in Dragon's Peak, so he didn't know the Skylanders would act any differently.

They turned to a whirling mass of claws and tails and teeth. Kaz tried spitting the killing hex at Spyro, but it didn't work, as since he couldn't speak, the power of the spell would not be fully released. All the small, weak, red light did was knock him dizzy for a second before he jumped back on Kaz.

Flashwing looked surprised, and tried herding them out into the open so others could help Spyro, but every time she went to interfere, Spyro dismissed her harshly.

Kaz thwacked his tail against Spyro's wing, cutting it down the middle. The dragon hissed and bit his front left leg, dragging him forward.

Kaz lashed out his front claws, aiming for Spyro's eyes, but the dragon fired a fireball at Kaz's face and he ended up having to fight the flames off his head (while Spyro was still dragging him).

"Ninjini, bind him!" Flashwing yelled.

"For what?" She asked lazily. "For Spyro?"

"I swear to Eon, if you act like this right now, I am going to stab you!" Flashwing spat. "Just do it!"

"Fine, fine," Ninjini waved her hand lazily and Kaz felt as though brackets had been placed around his front and back legs, chaining him to the ground. He was spread-eagled on the ground, completely exposed.

Spyro, panting, and with blood dripping from several well-aimed shots on his hide, stood in front of Kaz, teeth still bared. Flashwing was a little ways behind him to his left, and Ninjini was next to her, swords in hand.

Hex, Chill, Sprocket, Fright, and Flameslinger stood to Spyro's right. Spyro glanced at Hex. "Do you know what spell was used to silence him? Can you lift it?" Fright was pacing back and forth, he wasn't glaring at Kaz like the rest of them though.

"Possibly. Kaz, scratch the name of the spell into the ground," Hex ordered.

Kaz hissed and bristled, glaring at her. _Yeah, right, I know I am!_

"Do it," Flashwing growled, getting right in his face, anger shining in her eyes. "Tell us now. Or, we'll just assume it was you who caused Ala to kill Jade and we can skip the interrogation and just kill you right away. In fact, I think I'd prefer that."

Kaz gulped in fear at her. For the first time in his life, he was actually in complete and total fear. He had never been bound, forced by someone to do something he did not want to do. He had never had his life hanging so thinly in the balance as it did right then. There was no second or third option this time. Just one if he wanted to live.

He scratched the spell into the ground in front of him with his horns. T-i-l-l-i-t—t-o-d-a-s.

Hex blinked in surprise. "Lucky I studied the old stuff. That spell's super old. And super evil. Good thing about it is you don't have to be truly evil to do it," Hex said this, but then wasn't paying anymore attention. "Spyro, come on, you said we would send a team to find Rider."

"Hex…" Spyro turned around and looked at her, and sighed. "If he's in his darker alter ego, and they think he's on their side, they're not going to hurt him. And I can't risk anybody at this moment. We just… can't right now."

"What?" Hex blinked in shock. "B-but we have to!"

"No, we don't," Spyro said shortly. "But we do need to reverse the spell that's on this idiot here so we can figure out what's happened and what to do with him."

Hex looked about ready to argue, but Kaz guessed she saw sense in what he said, however much it hurt her. Sure, she wasn't showing it, as she immediately regained her composure and her dark, calm aura, but Kaz could tell by the twitches and the jerkiness of her voice that she was not at ease whatsoever. "S-so you want me to reverse the spell… let me see… _Tetcha-todas_!" She pushed her arms forward like she was shoving something and a bright green light flashed from the end of her fingertips, flowing around Kaz. It disintegrated into the air around him.

* * *

_**Pop Fizz**_

* * *

Voodood came inside of Sonic Boom's old cave, interrupting Pop Fizz and Red Fizz's heated discussion. The two gremlins jumped and looked over to him.

"Hey! We were in the middle of something!" Pop Fizz called to him scathingly.

"There's this new thing called 'knocking'," Red Fizz backed him up.

"Voodood Sorry, but Spyro's talking to Kaz, and he's about to say a bunch of stuff. He wants everyone there to hear what he's got to say," Voodood explained. "Voodood doesn't want anybody to get in trouble."

"Right…" Pop Fizz found how he spoke in third person quite disturbing. But he didn't say anything for the sake of Voodood's feelings. There were enough hurt feelings going around; he didn't want to add to them. "Alright! Well, let's go."

Pop Fizz and Red Fizz both walked in perfect sync out the cave and saw right away all the Skylanders were gathered in a huge knot around the Core of Light. Something was lying on the ground near it, and everyone wanted to see.

Pop Fizz jostled into a position next to Drill Sergeant and Sprocket. Red Fizz ended up a few paces away next to Ignitor and Bash. Bash was glaring at Kaz hard, his mouth pressed to a thin line.

Drobot fell into place beside Sprocket and Pop Fizz, talking to himself, it sounded like.

Pop Fizz ignored him. Kaz was talking.

"What is happening?" Spyro demanded. "I won't ask again."

"Fine! Deu Sol has taken over Dragon's Peak. He's been sending these dragons to disarm, discourage, and defeat you all. He's tried to break your hopes and your bones. I was sent to be a double-agent, but to have all my loyalty pointed to the Dragon's Peak throne, which, by the way, is owned by Deu Sol. You've already seen four of the dragon pairs. Ace, Thor, Geo, Boulder, Pyro, Blaze, Agua, and Aquamarine. Well, you've seen Agua and possibly Aquamarine. They're probably on their way to attack this second," Kaz explained. "But there are four more pairs. Corpse and Cadaver, Bio and Feuille, Techna and Blade, and Ala… and I guess it would be me if I were still there, but I'm not with them anymore. And yes, Ala killed Jade," Kaz sighed, his voice breaking for a moment. "There, happy?"

"How did he rise to power?" Pop Fizz couldn't stop from asking. How? He had been to Dragon's Peak once before. Ramses was a great leader. He was old, but he was calm, and he understood everything from anybody's point of view. Then Flavius was a happy-go-lucky, less-than-sharp-minded fire dragon, but he had a lot of heart. How could Deu Sol have broken past both of them so easily?

"Ha, Ramses is dead, you idiot," Kaz snorted. "Been dead. He was one of the first we had to kill to get there. Flavius tried to fight, but Deu Sol attacked him. I'm pretty sure he's dead too, but Deu Sol never confirmed nor denied that. He broke Vathek's statue, and because that statue was Vathek, my guess would be that means he's dead too, but I don't know whether his soul's still out there or whatever."

"He's sick!" Pop Fizz exclaimed, feeling about ready to gag. He was talking about the deaths of some of the greatest dragons alive—good and bad—like they were nothing! Like they were playthings meant to be broken!

"Of course I'm sick," Kaz hissed. "How the hell would I have gotten this far if I weren't?"

"Listen here, you sick, twisted bastard," Hex said in a cold, dangerous voice that Pop Fizz knew all too well from when he'd first met her. It was the voice she used when she was out for the kill. "You are not a hero, you are not one in the most remote aspect. You are a killer, a living demon from hell. You will die just like one," she spoke so softly you'd think she was a mother cat purring something to her kittens. But of course that was what made her sound all the deadlier.

Hex raised her arms. "Spyro, what should I do with him?"

"In all honesty," Spyro growled. "I don't care. But silence him again first. If he's a Magic dragon and knows spells, he can use them if he can talk."

A light went on in Kaz's eyes like he'd just remembered something. "_Sectudavra_!" He yelled at Spyro. Spyro jumped out of the way of a bright, sturdy red light that flashed past him.

"That's the killing hex!" Hex snarled. She turned on Kaz. "Well, two can play at that game! _Sectudavra_!"

Needless to say, Kaz hit the ground next, and that was all she wrote. Pop Fizz's heart was beating wildly in his chest, and his fur was bushed out and bristled in fear. Kaz was on the ground, flat, eyes vacant, but Pop Fizz felt as though he could still hear his menacing voice as he shot a killing hex in Spyro's direction…

Spyro could have been killed, just like Kaz, in an instant… Just a single flash of bright, red light… They could have been shattered, quite literally, forever…

Spyro seemed to have realized this too. He was breathing heavily, and his eyes were wide. He returned to his normal purple and orange-colored self, and spat words like venom. "Don't any of you dare bury him by the Tree of Life! He was a killer, and an enemy! Throw him into the ocean for all I care, but I don't want him on this island."

"With pleasure," Ninjini sang, floating over to Kaz's body. She picked him up by his wing and floated off down the stairwell. Pop Fizz didn't need to go over and see what she did. The splash he heard was quite sufficient enough. She came floating back up to the Citadel looking extremely happy with herself. "GOOD RIDDANCE TOO!" She yelled back down at the beach.

Drobot growled and flicked his tail from beside Pop Fizz. "Fools. They can yell and scream and whatever all they want, we have more important matters at hand. Like, how we're going to contact the Portal Masters, and how we're going to spread out away from the Citadel…"

Pop Fizz looked at him with furrowed eye brows. "What?"

"Nothing," Drobot blew him off. "Nothing of your concern."

Pop Fizz sighed. "Fine."

Spyro jumped on the Core of Light. "Now, I know nobody's going to like this, but… I as well as some others discussed and I've come to a consensus that we need to move. Not all of us. Some of us have to stay to guard the Core of Light. But we've got too many enemies who know exactly where we are now…" his voice cracked and his eyes traveled to where Cynder lay, sharpening her sickeningly curved claws against the porch she was lying on. "And we need to get our heads together and make a battle plan. Who's with me?"

Surprisingly, there was no argument against his idea. None that anybody decided to speak against him, anyway.

"I think it's a rather good idea," Dino-Rang murmured. "Get us away from all the fast-paced hell we're goin' through."

"It will definitely help us get our thoughts together," Storm spoke next, which surprised Pop Fizz further. The griffin was only about two and a half months old. What would he know of such decisions?

Pop Fizz spoke up. "I think it'll do us some good. I need to find more stuff for my potions anyway!"

"I still don't like it," Chill muttered from where she sat near the base of the Core of Light.

"Right," Spyro nodded. "Then it's settled. We'll need to find somewhere suitable though… Darkhill Grove. I think that'd do nicely…"

"Darkhill Grove?" Hex spoke up. "Good choice."

Drobot shook his head and looked around. He then started inching away from the main group of Skylanders, worming away towards the staircase that led to the beach.

Pop Fizz watched him with interest. He walked down the staircase, and Pop Fizz darted into some bushes to follow him secretly.

Pop Fizz darted out from some of the bushes and pitter-pattered down the stairs, watching Drobot just as he was looking off into the water. Pop Fizz ran over to meet him. "Dro! Where are you going?"

"What?" Drobot gave a start and looked back at him. "What're you doing here?"

"Wondering what you're doing," Pop Fizz murmured.

"I was going to fly off to my workshop. If anything, at this moment, we need help from a Portal Master. If I can tap into the Tech and Magic energies that surround Skylands and Earth, I can possibly re-establish communication utilizing some of my materials back at my workshop isle. The communicator might be a little clunky, but it'll be better than nothing. We can contact the Earthling Portal Masters and their good-for-nothing mother and try to garner their favor. We're like a quilt blanket whose pieces are falling away from one another. We're just slowly breaking," Drobot sighed. "And the Portal Masters could help. And I could try to establish a connection between us and the second dimension we broke into before. They could help us as well. I need to get to my technological laboratory first."

"Oh, so we're going to a potion lab! Yeah!" Pop Fizz did a fist-bump.

"I said lab, that doesn't mean potion lab," Drobot growled. "You could come, because I may need your experience in alchemy to aid me within some parts of the project."

"All I got outta that was alchemy," Pop Fizz whined.

"This is going to be good," Drobot groaned, face-palming. "Never thought I'd say this, but Pop Fizz, I need your help. So let's go."

* * *

_**Cadaver**_

* * *

"Rider, come on, Ala said we have to go back to Dragon's Peak!" Cadaver whimpered. "She's a bitch when she's mad, so I suggest we get to steppin'!"

"No, you get to stepping. I don't have to do anything," Rider, or Nega really, said, sighing and leaning against a tree contentedly. "I think I'll take a nap or something here."

"What?! But come on—"

"You don't tell me what to do, first of all, and second of all, I don't care. So, goodbye," Nega gave him the finger and didn't move, just lying there, basking in the sunlight.

Cadaver gaped. "But I made you come back to the surface! I finished corrupting Rider so you could have full control and Fright's presence wouldn't affect your status of livelihood!"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Nega yawned. "I don't care."

Cadaver shook his head. "Fine, you stay here, but I'm telling you, when Ala comes to get you, the real hell will start." With that, he turned and flew off.

* * *

**Story is now back on the M rating. **

**I really hate jumping around in so many POVs, and I especially hate I had to jump in Spyro's POV there, and… well, I just really hate this chapter for some reason. No idea why. BUT anywho, I will try my best to not jump into so many different POVs in the future. I hate jumping into another Skylander's POV during one Skylander's POV chapter because I feel like I'm giving way too much screen time to that one character then. Well, to sum things up, I've done POV chapters for these Skylanders so far:**

**Spyro Learns His Limits: **Spyro

**Freeing Sonic Boom's Young: **Sonic Boom

**Cynder's Doubts: **Cynder

**Meet Ace, Whirlwind!: **Whirlwind

**Jet-Vac's Homeland: **Jet-Vac

**For Riley!: **Zap

**Grounds Passed: **Bash

**Mirror, Mirror: **Ghost Roaster

**Illusion: **Gill Grunt

**It's Cold At the Top: **Chill

**Burning Hope: **Slam Bam

**Sandcastle, Pt. 1: **Thumpback

**Sandcastle, Pt. 2: **Hex

**Bound to the Ground: **Hot Dog

**The Bits and Pieces: **Eruptor

**We're Losing, Aren't We?: **Swarm

**Blitz of the Trade: **Flameslinger

**Query and Quota: **Ninjini

**Bluefire, Pt. 1: **Hot Head

**Bluefire, Pt. 2: **Trigger Happy

**A Forgotten Truth: **Sprocket

**Evil Comes Disguised: **Flashwing

**Colossal and Tidal: **Camo

**The True Plan: **Sunburn

**Wham-Shell's Folly: **Wham-Shell

**Death, the Princess, and the Brave: **Stealth Elf

**Affliction: **Fright Rider** (Eh… Rider really, sorry!)**

**I Said Lab, That Doesn't Mean Potion Lab: **Pop Fizz


	29. Grinding My Gears

_**Grinding My Gears**_

* * *

The orange-red dragon made his way past the puddles on the ground. They were blue, ocean-clear, and could be used to see down into the living realm of Skylands. He was quite literally walking on clouds… For the ground beneath his feet was white, and while he couldn't feel it, there was a force there that allowed him the ability to walk. Even footsteps echoed as though he was walking on something solid.

He came to a stop once he heard footsteps coming his way. He watched as the shadow-skinned elf came to a stop and nodded towards him, the same goofy grin on his face as always. Behind him, a much larger orange dragon followed. He had clear, azure eyes. They were no longer bloody and clotted, and he was no longer blind. He was much larger than the elf and the orange-red dragon... much, much larger.

The next one to come into the orange-red dragon's view was a white-feathered, unicorn-dragon hybrid. She shook out her feathers. She didn't have the ghastly slash across her neck anymore that had served as her cause for death.

The dragon was not surprised when a purple-haired, giant genie followed the white-feathered hybrid. She looked far younger than he had ever seen her. She was not quite as tall as she had been when she had been alive—she was slightly shorter—but she retained her powerful magic, sword, and ancient bottle. Her scarlet-red suit shone bright against the whiteness of the clouds they were all on.

An aged fire dog came next. His tail blazed skyward, much bigger than that of Hot Dog's. His eyes weren't orange either, they were brown. He angled his triangular ears towards the larger orange dragon with the clear blue eyes.

"Is everyone coming?"

"Yes, Flametail, everyone is coming."

"All of them?" The white-feathered hybrid asked, orange and purple eyes widening in surprise. "But there are many…"

"Twenty-four total, twenty –two not present. And then some more, Polarity," the orange-red dragon spoke up.

The shadow-skinned elf continued to grin goofily, though he sounded worried. "Where's Juno?"

"Ashton, stop worrying everybody," a crisp female voice called. She spread her black wings and flew closer to them. Her eyes were deep, rich amber. Her body looked like that of a human female's, but the orange-red dragon had learned long ago that she was a cross between a Magic seraph and siren (though she was more seraph than anything in appearance). She wore a silver and white shirt and skirt, the same she wore when she was living.

Her skirt was covered in ancient markings. Markings that were years and years old.

Silently, a silver-gray spirit floated forward from the vast expanse of the clouds. He floated high above the ground. He had a pointed hat, and from the shadow of it, all you could see on his face were his eyes (which shone a blank, unstaring white). He wore the usual clothing of a Magic spell punk, but at the same time, he looked so much different. The main thing was that he was colored as a spirit, not with the purples and violets of a Magic spell punk. He had died long before the rest of them, but had followed them into the clouds anyway.

A Golding came marching into the clearing next. He had dusky crimson hair, and around his waist, he had a thick, leather tool belt. He wore a faded red shirt and regular blue jeans. Nothing much. "I wish Sundrake were here," he murmured.

"We all do, Counter Fit," Juno, the seraph-siren hybrid, dipped her head. "But we all know what has become of Sundrake. It's up to the Skylanders to determine what exactly happens to him in the end though. Isn't that why we gathered here today from where we watch over Skylands from far and wide?"

"This isn't everyone," Flametail, the fire dog, interrupted. "We're missing many. What about Luck-O-Ton, Oshen, Blakely Lake, Blaiz, Skylar, Duse Ryel, all the others?"

"They may not be able to make it tonight," the orange-red dragon said. "After all, we watch Skylands from separate corners of the clouds. Who knows where they are?"

"He speaks truth, that Blaze," Lone Nexus, the Magic spell punk spirit said. "Nothing but the truth… As past Skylanders—and these two dragons being associates of the Skylanders—we watch Skylands from a sort of center-section. We are neither in Skylands nor are we in Haven's Gates. There are but only so many of us. We watch from separate corners, as Blaze stated."

Blaze nodded. He then grinned. "I find it odd though how my name is almost identical to the past Skylander Blaiz's."

"Blaiz always tried to tell us to pronounce it Blah-eez, or something like that," a witch muttered as she floated into view. She had pinkish-white eyes (Blaze had asked her if she was blind before, but she'd nearly killed him again simply for asking and had answered 'no'), and wispy white hair that spilled over the sides of her head. She had pitch-black clothing on though, and carried a long, thick, rugged wand. "But of course, we all pronounced—and still pronounce—it Blaze."

"It's Blah-eez!" The Fire elf snapped, stomping into their view. His red hair was flared up and stood in the air. He almost looked like he'd just stuck his finger an in electric socket. He had tan skin and wore bright, almost neon, red clothes. "Not Blaze! That's whatshisface's name."

"I'm whatshisface, so shut it," Blaze snapped. He had once thought all Fire elves looked the same—green skin with blue hair and a small flame in their eyes—but not Blaiz. When he was young, he had been stolen away from his home by a 'mad scientist' as Blaiz put it (Blaiz wouldn't be able to remember, he was only a baby at the time) and radiation from many experiments had changed his personality, appearance, and even mutated his powers more than the Fire elf could count. He could have been born a Tech elf and nobody would know the difference.

"Calm down, both of you. And here I thought Hot Head was a hot head," the purple-haired genie smirked.

"Scarlett, please," Polarity glared at her.

"Oh, come on Polarity, I'm dead and all, but can't I have some fun?" Scarlett asked.

"We're going to have to assume the others aren't going to be able to make it," the large orange dragon said, dipping his head. His azure eyes looked them over. "We came together to discuss the current plight of the Skylanders…. And how to help them. As we know, Botswan delivered Sunburn our message before she had to make her way far from Dragon's Peak and the Skylanders. But Sunburn hasn't yet told Spyro because Spyro is on the verge of panic due to the amount of what's been going on lately…"

"Then Stealth Elf found out she was Seraphina, the missing princess," Counter Fit, the Golding, murmured.

Flametail nodded too. "Then Rider's allowed Nega control over him…"

"The Skylanders went downhill fast," Ashton commented, grinning stupidly as he kept an arm around Juno's waist. "Interesting how none of this ever happened under Sundr—"

"Can it," Juno sang slightly (it was a habit of hers, no matter what tone of voice she was using), irritably jabbing Ashton in the gut.

"Ow… okay, geez," Ashton mumbled.

"We know what's happened," Scarlett interrupted. "We don't need a run through. But what we do need is a plan. We need to get Spyro to know the prophecy, get away from the others, and try to live up to it."

"The battle will come," Pyro conceded, lowering his blue eyes to Blaze. "I'm afraid we won't be there though…"

"We're spirits," Lone Nexus said, "of course we won't. It's hard to fight when you have no physical body to fight with."

"You never had a problem with it, Lone Nexus," the witch said.

"You know very well, Dark Hart, that all I was ever able to do was heal others, myself, go through things, and I could shoot orbs, but they only did damage for a short amount of time," Lone Nexus answered her. "Otherwise, I'd have been an actual asset to the Skylanders rather than a hindrance..."

Dark Hart snorted. "Always was the downer of the group, Lone Nexus."

"Enough," a gruff voice came. A horse-like, chestnut-brown creature stepped into view. He had long, bat-like wings, and Blaze could see his spine against his skin. His tail was not like a horse's. It was long, skinny, and bony. While most would call him an Undead element on sight, he wasn't. He was an Earth element. "Leave Lone Nexus alone. We need to discuss. The prophecy has not been delivered to Spyro and we have very limited ways of getting it to him. We can't let Botswan risk her life again. Last time, Ala nearly killed her (blasted Khala dragon nearly ripped her throat out!) and Pyro and Blaze were both killed. Sunburn believes he's lost both his parents on both sides and that the entirety of the phoenix race is gone. I honestly don't blame him for not having told Spyro anything. He could have forgotten."

"Forgotten!?" Flametail barked. "How do you forget something your supposedly dead mother tells you, exactly, Duse Ryel?"

The horse-like creature narrowed his eyes at him, preparing a retort, but Counter Fit cut him off.

"When you have five thousand other things on your mind," Counter Fit muttered. He smoothed his crimson hair, his golden, metallic skin glittering against the light the clouds shone upon him.

"Wise words and all," Scarlett interrupted, "but we need to figure out how to deliver this prophecy to Spyro. Then we need to help the dragon get his head straight... Wait a second..." She tipped her head in thought, her purple ponytail swirling. "Perhaps we could contact Thor?"

"Thor's mute, moron," Blaiz said, crossing his arms. His red hair was now lying flat against his back and shoulders, but he still looked as flammable as ever.

"He is," Scarlett growled, "but he could still be of use to us. I mean, he's already broken through to Storm, hasn't—"

"And scarred him for life?" Ashton's goofy smile was gone, replaced with dark anger. His white eyes flashed, his soot-colored skin making it all the worse. "Yeah, I remember! That baby grew up way too fast. And we can say it's the Skylanders' fault all we want, but in truth, it's not. It's ours."

"It's not our fault, it's not the Skylanders', it was an accident," Juno waved her wings, using her right to soothe Ashton. She turned her amber eyes on Scarlett. "Your idea could work. But it also might not. Storm has grown up far faster than he ever should have. But we can't change the past. We'll just have to hope he can return to that island... and comprehensibly tell somebody what he saw."

"I don't like it," Ashton said crossly, glaring at the ground.

"Then what about how everybody's spreading out?" Blaze asked. "Wham-Shell went out on his own with Riley—put both of'em in danger—and then Rider was compromised by Cadaver..."

"You know as well as I do that Rider's been fully corrupted and we can't do a thing about it," Polarity spoke up, her orange and violet eyes turned on him. "Only time will tell whether Rider can counteract the curse or not. Fright may possibly help, but his mere presence won't force Nega away anymore."

"What about Wham-Shell and Riley? What, t'ought I'd miss out?" A thaumaturge with dark blue hair and pale, silver-white eyes spoke. She walked out of the cloudy mist and into view, her hair falling over her eyes. She wore a black and gray metal suit, rather than a silver and blue one (which was usually the standard coloring for most thaumaturgen suits). "I don't need to be caught up, one of you can catch me up later. Just continue on."

"As I was saying, Oshen," Polarity continued, "it's up to Rider to counteract Nega. Wham-Shell and Riley, unfortunately, will have to fight off the pirates themselves (though it confuses me as to why Riley keeps talking about Wash Buckler, as he was sent to Earth almost a hundred years ago). For now, the Skylanders need a strong sense of leadership... we need somebody to contact Spyro."

"The easiest to do so would have either been Sundrake, Thor, or myself," Lone Nexus chimed in. "But leaving here is dangerous for me. Deu Sol's magic outweighs my own. Sundrake has been... compromised. And Thor is mute..."

"Deu Sol and Sundrake," Counter Fit murmured. "What is the difference?"

"There is a difference!" Lone Nexus snarled suddenly, though nobody could see his mouth due to his hood. "I will go. I will speak with Spyro. I will guide him as long as I can. But I will quickly return."

* * *

_**Drobot**_

* * *

The ride to Drobot's workshop was rather uneventful for the first half. Pop Fizz wouldn't relent with his consistent babbling, which annoyed the Tech dragon all the more. Then he began babbling nonsensically about a mixture of different assortments of chemicals and even some concessions (Drobot had no idea how to respond to this) to create a new potion that never allowed one's hunger to wane.

Drobot finally shifted into hover mode and glared at the gremlin over his shoulder as he floated in midair. "If you speak one more nonsensical potion into my hearing receptors, I _will _launch you off my center-back power core at the speed of light, which is approximately two-hundred-ninety-nine hundred million, seven-hundred-ninety-two-hundred thousand, four-hundred-fifty-eight square meters per second! Now do me a favor and seal your top and lower jaw together so I do not have to do it for you!" He cut his afterburners back on as Pop Fizz blinked in confusion, gripping Drobot's neck.

"Uh… what did you just say?" He asked, gaping stupidly at him.

Drobot groaned. "Never mind, forget about it. We are at the maximum, twenty-two meters away from my workshop. I wish for us to get there quickly and work just as speedily. I want to go back to the Citadel to Whirlwind and the Skylanders with my suit and I in one piece."

"What about me?" Pop Fizz whined.

Drobot nervously smiled under his mask. "Oh, yes, you as well."

Pop Fizz merely pouted as a response and held his long, clumsy arms around Drobot's neck. Drobot's afterburners were causing them to travel at a fast pace—Drobot had once calculated his afterburners to travel at ninety meters per second (Drobot had found it interesting how while Skylands and Earth did not interact with each other that much before the Skylanders were banished there, he had realized early on that their forms of measurement—meters, kilometers, millimeters, centimeters, feet, inches, miles, etcetera—were basically the same. He hadn't figured out just how or why yet, though).

What was annoying him further was every time he'd look at Pop Fizz, his suit's helmet would show a small paragraph in his field of vision about the gremlin. His suit's helmet had five different encyclopedia volumes programmed into it, and every time Drobot would look at something (and on rare occasions, think about something) his helmet would tell him about it. He honestly had read Pop Fizz's paragraph too many times to find it of any more interest.

Drobot's mind traveled. He remembered his very early days of being a Skylander… Then, not everybody he knew now was a Skylander. Especially Pop Fizz, he'd barely been a Skylander for a year. When Drobot had joined the Skylanders, Spyro hadn't been leader. Sundrake had. Sundrake was a Fire and Life dragon hybrid, though he had referred to himself as a 'sun dragon', and nothing more.

Sometimes Drobot wondered what it would be like if Sundrake were still their leader rather than Spyro. Sundrake had taught Spyro everything he knew, but Drobot was afraid that perhaps Sundrake had grown too close to Spyro and that was what partially caused the ceaseless worry in Spyro's mind that something was going to go wrong, or somebody would be in danger if he did something. The last time Sundrake went on a mission, it hadn't gone well. Of course, that had been years, years ago, long before Kaos had ever been considered a serious threat or Eon had been blown apart or even the Core of Light had been attacked by Kaos' Hydra.

As he thought, information regarding them all showed up as well. Drobot was sometimes unnerved by how his helmet seemed to process his thoughts as well as his surroundings.

_**Sundrake Allekhan:**__ Second Leader of the Ninth Generation Skylanders after Elitist Wash Buckler mysteriously disappeared with rest of Elitist Skylanders of their time. Fire and Life dragon hybrid. Gentle, caring, and patient, but fierce, swift, and proud in battle. Similar attacks to Camo Sunoco. Shot sun seeds forward, could cultivate fruits quickly, can shoot sun energy beams, and can produce sun-based creatures. Last seen in 10039. Current whereabouts unknown. Presumed dead._

_**Spyro the Dragon:**__ Leader of the Tenth Generation Skylanders. Rare purple dragon. Controls all elements, but prefers Fire and Magic elements. Main love interest is Cynder. Step-brother of Sparx the Dragonfly. Straightforward, tactical, and considerate to many, but when under extreme pressure without others to consult, can become snappy, inconsiderate, and even oblivious to surroundings. _

_**Kaos H. Ugleken:**__ Portal Master turned evil. Age somewhere between thirty and forty-five. Mother was also a Portal Master, also an evil one. Known for his 176 tries at ruling Skylands, but his (puzzling and improbable) 200 failures. Controls several evil versions of several known Skylanders (possibly confiscated from several different dimensions). Has butler named Glumshanks P. Witherbottom. Current whereabouts presumed to be his home (Kaos' Kastle). Newest plot to rule Skylands: utilize the Iron Fist of Arkus (failure)._

_**Four Worlds' Hydra:**__ Hydra that controls four of the eight elements. Powerful creature. Only the Darkness can control the creature (or whoever controls the Darkness, though has shown some power over the Darkness in the past). Destroyed the Core of Light in 10063. Defeated. Core of Light restored. Current whereabouts unknown. No further data._

Drobot was interrupted from his thoughts as Pop Fizz shook him. "Where are you going? Are you going to land inside Dragon's Peak!? Have you lost it?!"

Drobot looked ahead. He was indeed flying straight for Dragon's Peak. He cursed himself as he switched directions, avoiding the series of islands. But just as he was about to go back to daydreaming, he stopped and stared.

Black clouds were fogging Dragon's Peak. Black clouds that he recognized all too well. The islands that made up Dragon's Peak were all covered in a bleak, frightening shadow. Drobot kicked on his afterburners to full speed and rocketed away as fast he could. Pop Fizz dug his claws into Drobot's neck, causing him to wince. As he did so, another paragraph of information was presented to him by his helmet to his eyes.

_**The Darkness of Skylands:**__ Dark element that can be controlled by anybody with pure evil intention. Can corrupt and change almost anybody. Has special effect on those influenced by the Undead element. Resistant to those of the Life element. Controlled by Kaos in 10063. Lost control towards the end of the year. Current whereabouts were unknown. New data gathered: Current whereabouts: Dragon's Peak._

"Slow down! Or do I have to use bigger words for you to understand?" Pop Fizz yelled above the roar of the wind as it blew his fur back on his face and his ears against his head.

Drobot slowed down, but only once he was sure he had at least three thousand feet between him and Dragon's Peak. Among a sea of other small, uninhabited islands, he saw his own. He had left it in a rather unsightly condition on purpose, so any others who happened upon it to be convinced it was full of nothing but useless appliances or spare parts. He threw Pop Fizz off his back and onto the island and lashed his tail. He got right into the gremlin's face and growled.

"Don't you know what that was? That was the Darkness! The Darkness is the same evil energy that got you sent to Earth locked in a plastic prison the second you became a Skylander! Or are you too thick to even realize what it means? It means that whoever's causing the dragons to attack the Skylanders is either being forced to do it by the Darkness (which is more than likely being controlled by someone) or Deu Sol is controlling the Darkness!" He lashed his tail again out of anger, this time, leaving a small cut in the ground. He whirled away from Pop Fizz, seething.

Didn't this narrow-minded idiot understand? If the Darkness was settled over Dragon's Peak, then that meant somebody was controlling it! Whether that meant somebody had corrupted Deu Sol and made him a lackey, or Deu Sol himself was the main boss and controlled the Darkness, it didn't really matter, it just had to be one of the two. In all honesty, his money was on the former of the two ideas. He'd never heard of anybody so evil in his lifetime, and didn't believe that anybody would simply follow such a ghastly path on their own accord.

Pop Fizz looked hurt. "Well, how was I supposed to know? Not like any of you older guys ever talk to us! All you ever do is criticize us on how little we know when nobody's ever taken the time to explain it!" He usually bore a look of complete abstinent unknowing. But at that moment, he looked on the verge of tears.

Drobot sighed guiltily. It was true. When Pop Fizz first came to the Citadel, not many were willing to hang around the half-insane gremlin. The only ones that really even took the chance at first were Wrecking Ball, Terrafin, and Hot Dog (and in all honesty, they weren't the sharpest of the tools in the workshop). Drobot still felt rather horrid about it though, and approached the gremlin sorrowfully.

"I should not have snapped like that. It was wrongfully done, but it is now over. We must get to building a communicator. I may have an unfinished one we can use as a main base, but we will need to do a lot more to it before it will make contact with Earth."

Pop Fizz's face lit up. "What do you need me to do?"

"I need a chemical compound that will infuse elements of Tech and Magic for a temporary second, but in repeated succession," Drobot answered. "Something that will infuse the two elements for a split second, but in such rapid succession that it acts like they are infused every second. This will be so the weak technology of the human association (what they call an Xbox Three-Sixty) will not be firewalled by the Magic atmosphere of Skylands. If the two can be forcefully infused, my communicator's signals will be able to freely travel to Earth and be heard through the speakers of what they call a television set. The mediocre technology the humans have use of will be difficult to use with the advanced Magic and Tech of Skylands, but it should still work, no matter how badly."

Pop Fizz's jaw slowly fell to the ground as the words poured from Drobot's mouth. "Do wha…?" He asked, his ears falling too.

Drobot rolled his eyes under his helmet. "Make a potion that will make the Tech and Magic element get along," he said simply, any remnant of remorse gone, irritated again.

"Oh, alright!" Pop Fizz took off his backpack and spread its contents across the ground. "Right, Magic and Tech… Drobot, I'll need a sample of pure Tech energy. Like the power cores on your suit!"

Drobot gave a start. His power cores? His suit didn't work without them, and if they were attacked while they were there, all he'd have for defense would be his claws, teeth, and his bladed tail (he'd have Pop Fizz of course but he was thinking of defense for himself). He sighed. He'd have to take a risk. "It cannot be for too long and you cannot drain it or else my suit will cease function. Is that clear?"

Drobot's power core consisted of four pieces, actually. Two were in his helmet and one in his tail, but the strongest and most well-known was the one that glowed visibly from his back.

Pop Fizz nodded, nothing but seriousness left in his expression. "Right."

"Then here," Drobot decided he'd get it over with quick so he didn't change his mind and call off the whole idea. After all, if he gave his power core over to Pop Fizz and they were attacked and were both killed, Spyro would never forgive them and he didn't even _want _to imagine Whirlwind's reaction. She'd already lost her sister… Good Eon, what was he even doing, risking his life like this? What if he _didn't _come back…?

As he thought, he pushed off his helmet and began taking off the rest of his suit.

He had a single horn jutting from his forehead. Most called it a crest since it appeared similar to one and was golden-colored, but it was indeed a horn. It was a lot skinnier than his helmet's horn though, and it made him feel a little sheepish. He'd made it so much thicker on the helmet so his horn would fit into it.

He also had wings, but they weren't wide and umbrella-like like most other dragon's. He had a more aerodynamic look about his wings. They were thinner than most, and most swore he couldn't fly without his suit (which wasn't true, he could, he just didn't like to).

He also had a tail blade, but much like with the horn on his head, it was a _LOT _thinner than the shape he had made his suit's tail piece. It could fit through the small opening at the end of the tail-piece actually, and was only about the size of Cynder's tail blade (if not, a little smaller). It also embarrassed him greatly.

He didn't have yellow or orange or eyes of that color at all, rather, his eyes were blue.

He suddenly felt very nude as the metal pieces sat on the ground in front of him. Ignoring the odd and awkward feeling, he picked up the center-back piece of the suit. This had multiple layers of sapphire-blue metal on it and one part of the power core glowed from the center. He pressed a yellow button on the blue metal, and the cover case for the piece to the power core opened.

Immediately, the rest of the suit stopped working except for the tail piece and helmet. The wing covers Drobot had connected to the center-back piece drooped and the bladegear slots made a gurgling sound. It was the sound when the bladegears inside (which all constantly turned like actual clockwork gears) stopped turning and scraped against each other for a half-second. It disturbed him.

The helmet's two power cores were located in probably the oddest of places on his helmet, but that made them all the harder to recognize. One was in each of the eye sockets (from the outside, they appeared yellow) and on the inside, Drobot could see through them because they processed images back to his own eyes as well as warning him visually when danger was near. If an enemy snuck up on him while he was busy taking another out, they would automatically force his head to turn the other direction to attack the upcoming enemy. He could shoot lasers from it because the power cores chained energy between them and would release it in quick bursts of power.

The helmet ceased function as well as he pulled out the two pieces to the power core. He set them next to the one from his center-back piece, and moved to his tail piece. Its piece was in the very tip of it, but couldn't be seen from the outside. This piece could combine Drobot's bladegears all into one super bladegear, and also helped keep him steady in hover mode or when he was using afterburners. It was the weakest of the four parts to the power core.

It was shaped more like a pyramid than anything, and when he set it next to the rest of the power core's pieces, he felt irritated by its lack of resemblance to the other three pieces (which were all perfectly round, though they ranged in size).

He got the sickening feeling he had just mutilated something as he stared at his suit in shambles and the power core sitting in four pieces near Pop Fizz. Pop Fizz took the for pieces together, aligned them so that the smallest part of the power core was in the front (the power core piece from Drobot's tail piece), then the two eye pieces, and then his center-back piece.

Once aligned in perfect order, they started glowing brighter yellow than ever before. Even the pyramidal part to Drobot's tail piece. While Pop Fizz carefully set the pieces into a potion bottle (which disturbed him even more) he began thinking about sifting through some of the spare parts on the island for anything that could be made for a communicator. Anything to get his mind off his pretty much mutilated suit, which was beginning to cause him to lose track of what he was doing and pace back and forth.

He suddenly realized how much he thought of the suit as a baby rather than a suit… Which caused him to snort at his own stupidity. It was a device, it wasn't a living thing. But much like one, it needed care and a constant supply of energy… He still felt stupid for thinking about it that way.

He went on his way, looking through the parts, and came across the mouth piece to a radio. That could be of use. He held it tenderly in his jaws as he continued searching. He knew he had a partially built communicator around here somewhere, but with the heaps of junk everywhere, he wasn't planning on finding it to be easy. He dug through nuts, bolts, nails, various metal parts, a blender (who lived here before him, anyway?), a few tires, a run-down gun barrel, a battered coffeemaker (seriously—who lived here before him?), a vibrator of some sort (he tossed that aside quickly, he honestly _didn't want _to know where that came from or what it'd been used for), a dilapidated motorcycle gas tank, and many other various items. But he felt none would be fit for making a communicator.

That was, until he came across a communicator that was already made. "I had to touch somebody's _vibrator_ just to come across a communicator that's _already been built_?" He cursed aloud and frustratedly. "And then when we get back Spyro and Whirlwind are just going to chew my butt out for coming out here and doing this all behind their backs. Smartest Skylander of them all, and here I am being probably the biggest incompetent buffoon," he grumbled as he hauled the ship communicator out into the open.

Pop Fizz looked over his shoulder at Drobot to see what he was doing. He cocked his head at the communicator. "Er—isn't that a ship communicator? It looks like the one that was on Flynn's ship…. Except rustier and dirtier…"

Drobot glowered at him. "If the potion is not finished, continue working on it so I can put my suit back together," he growled. He examined the communicator.

It was mostly flat and looked like it'd be a panel on a wall. It was red with a gray speaker on it, and silver buttons with black numbers on them. A bent antenna stuck off the top right corner. A great spider web and tangled mass of cords was behind the panel, though, and Drobot wasn't looking forward to untangling them all.

Pop Fizz interrupted Drobot's examination by poking him on the shoulder. "Here you go!" He held out his clawed hand, Drobot's four pieces to his suit's power core in the palm. They were a little damp, but otherwise, undamaged. They were too advanced to be ruined by wetness, so he wasn't worried about that. He nodded his thanks to Pop Fizz and left the rundown communicator to put the power core pieces back into his suit.

It wasn't hard. It wasn't nearly as disturbing to him as it was taking them out. He easily put them back where they belonged. He loved the small humming sound his wings made due to the bladegears inside whirling constantly. The wings also stiffened back up as the power core in the center-back piece breathed life back into the section of his suit.

"Pop Fizz, can you help me get it back on?" Drobot asked. Normally Whirlwind or Drill Sergeant would help him do it (he was still feeling naked without his suit on), but he was kind of stuck with the gremlin at the moment so he'd have to just let Pop Fizz help. Pop Fizz nodded (which, due to him having really only a head and no body, looked more to Drobot like he was bouncing up and down), and picked up Drobot's center-back piece and placed it over his back. It clicked in place with his back, and the metallic wings sat on top of Drobot's own.

"Great, now slip my wings in through the narrow part," Drobot told him.

Pop Fizz blinked in confusion. "Er… but your wings are too wide to fit through the little slit there…" Pop Fizz's wording made Drobot feel all the more uncomfortable.

"Then force it in! I've gotten it in there before, just hurry up, I feel naked," Drobot grumbled the last part so that Pop Fizz didn't hear it. But he hadn't factored in the fact that the gremlin had three-foot-long ears.

Pop Fizz made a disgusted face. "Ick! As if!" He took Drobot's wing in his clawed hand and began to literally try stuffing it into Drobot's metallic wing.

"Ow!" Drobot hissed, waving his tail, slapping Pop Fizz on the side. Pop Fizz slapped him back and crossed his arms, leaving Drobot's wing wedged a little oddly in the opening of his suit's wing.

Drobot hissed. "We do not have time for this! Please just help me," Drobot hated how he was being forced to depend on Pop Fizz, but he knew he really had no choice.

Pop Fizz shut his eyes smugly and opened one only slightly. "What's that?"

Drobot narrowed his eyes and scored a scratch in the ground with his tail. "Help. Me," he growled again, though this time through gritted teeth.

"Help you and what?" Pop Fizz closed his eyes again, ears pricked for an answer.

"Do not press your luck!" Drobot spat.

"Fine, fine, geez," Pop Fizz made his way back over to Drobot and folded the webs of Drobot's wing before he tried fitting it through the hole into his suit's wing. This time, it worked, and painlessly. Drobot sighed with relief as the weight of the metal dropped down on his wing. He liked it. It made his wings stronger, even though he didn't use them outside the suit much.

Pop Fizz turned to Drobot's left wing and did the same, just as painless as before. After that, Drobot sat down on his haunches, feeling like he'd just been in a major battle. "That was so much more complicated than it needed to be," Drobot muttered.

"Thought you liked complicated?" Pop Fizz asked him, grinning as he picked up a golden potion with silver tints here and there.

"Cheek!" Drobot would have loved to cuff him playfully on the ear, but he didn't want to risk Pop Fizz dropping the potion (or he'd have to go through all that hell all over again).

Pop Fizz set the potion down carefully. "This is the potion."

"Right," Drobot nodded. "We'll use that for fuel for the machinery. But as for now, I need to get my helmet and tail piece back on," he said, getting up. He picked up the two, round, eye-shaped pieces to the power core and put them back into his helmet's eye sockets. They ignited yellow with light and brought the helmet back to life. The crest on the top of the helmet had drooped when the power supply had been cut off, but now, it stood as starkly as ever.

Drobot raised it with his paws over his head and fit it on his face. There was no way he was about to let Pop Fizz put his helmet on. Considering what he had tried to do with his wing, he really didn't want to imagine what the gremlin would have done. The power core's pieces in front of his eyes immediately began processing images back to him, sharp, clear images, with small descriptions around them.

Such as, when he turned his eyes on Pop Fizz, a small paragraph came up in small letters:

_**Pop Fizz:**__ Newly recruited Skylander as of approximately ten months and twenty-seven days ago. Gremlin, chemist. Due to many chemistry-related experience, fur color, ears, claws, and other attributes do not match what DNA intended them to be. Intelligence not as high as others. Main attacks include changing to a Beast Form (which he is completely insane when in), using a variety of different potions, and blowing others up with a shaken-up potion. Heritage data unknown. No known family other than Red Fizz._

When he put his eyes on the rundown communicator, another paragraph appeared beside it (Pop Fizz's had disappeared).

_**8034-Style Drow Airship Armada Communicator:**__ Damaged; several cords severed. Speakers rusted. Several buttons jammed. Some cords unrecognizable (do not belong to communicator). Belonged to an enemy group of people (the Kallna Kentra Klan, or KKK)_.

Drobot recoiled. 8034? That was more than two thousand years ago! He blinked under his helmet in surprise. He also found himself making a face at the Kallna Kentra Klan (KKK). They were a group of drow that had once tried to wipe out all Life elves. Of course, it didn't work, and they were destroyed around the 9066 period by the first group of Ninth Generation Skylanders, or "Elitists" as they were referred to (consisting of Skylanders like Wash Buckler, Blast Zone, etc… all of which had been sent to Earth while mysteriously defending Cloudbreak Volcano about one hundred years ago…).

Drobot shook his head and picked up his tail piece. Again, another paragraph appeared on his field of vision, but he'd read it over so many times he didn't care to read it. He picked up the tail piece and slipped it over the bladed end of his tail. He then picked up the pyramidal power core that went in its tip and pressed a button to open the tip of his tail-piece. A pyramidal crevice opened up, and he put the power core piece in it, shutting it. He twirled his tail around a couple of times to make sure it was in working order.

"Now that is better," Drobot said in his droning, robotic voice. Pop Fizz looked a little caught off-guard by the sudden voice change, but made no other notice of it. Drobot made his way back over to the communicator.

He began carefully threading through the mass of cords behind the main panel of it. Small sentences came up in his field of vision to let him know just what each cord belonged to—one was a cord to that blasted coffeemaker and one was apparently the charger for the vibrator (which he got some information he could have lived without on thanks to how much information he'd installed into the power cores of his helmet)—and after about twenty minutes of tedious cord detangling, the mass of cords was reduced to barely any cords at all. About seventy percent of the cords that had been tangled with the communicator's didn't even belong to it!

Pop Fizz blankly sifted through some of the cords. "What the heck do these go to?"

"I can tell you that one goes to a vibrator, another to a coffeemaker, another to a game, and then one goes to a computer. Now I suggest leaving them alone because I do not want them lost or anything. I don't plan on using the vibrator cord but I might be able to use some of the other items," Drobot answered him without looking away from his work.

"Vibrator?" Pop Fizz echoed.

"Dear mother of Eon, give me strength for dealing with this idiot!" Drobot exclaimed as he hit his head on the ground out of exasperation. "Pop Fizz, I am not going to give a family life lesson right now, so please do go fool around with your potions. But please do not ruin the one you created with my power cores."

Pop Fizz still looked confused but shrugged and took up his potion bottles leaving the golden and silver one he'd created with Drobot's power cores out in the open.

Drobot put the panel for the communicator flat on the ground. It wasn't exactly flat, thanks to the cords behind it, but flat enough for him to work with. Some of the cords, as his helmet had said, were indeed severed and needed repairing. He could do that easily though, or just use other cords in their place, so he wasn't that worried about the cords.

It was the rusted speaker he was worried about. It was badly rusted, and Drobot groaned upon realizing that rain must have come and rusted many of his appliances. Smartest Skylander of them all—and he had forgotten about the simple rain!

_Stupid simpleton,_ he scolded himself. Now he'd have to make a tarp or something to cover most of the metal appliances on the island, not that it'd make that big a difference, considering almost all of them were already ruined.

But the cover or tarp would have to wait. He needed to finish this communicator. He headed into a thicket of trees on the island to see if there were any spare parts there that hadn't been ruined by the weather (which he made a mental reminder in his head to kick himself once he got out of there for forgetting about the simple weather).

He hadn't expected much, but he actually came across quite a few things with speakers. He found a headset, a pair of desktop speakers, and some odd-looking thing that he didn't know about (which disturbed him deeply, because he'd practically installed five different volumes of encyclopedias in his helmet and had read through each of them around five times).

To the headset, the paragraph that appeared was rather scant with information.

_**Mabu 1047 Videogame Headset:**__ Designed to provide clearer sound and better surround-sound. Rather unsuccessful. Requires three cords to work; none present. No further data._

The desktop speakers were better though.

_**Golding Stereo Speakers (9097 Version):**__ Designed to provide deeper, richer sound. Sold rather well, and is still used as a base design for newer stereo speaker models. Requires one cord to work (cord is present). First designed by Chance Evergold, 9097 (Born: 9022, Died: 10000.)._

But it was the third thing that intrigued him the most. Only a small sentence appeared in his field of vision about it:

_**No data available.**_

Drobot picked it up. It was a small, black square, with a smeared logo on it. The logo appeared to be 'Micr—', but that was when it became to smeared to make out. Drobot looked for a crevice on it to pull it apart, to see what he was staring at.

Sentences ran across his field of vision, explaining the cords as he examined them.

_**Power Supplier:**__ Similar to computer power supply block._

_**Data Processor:**_ _Similar to that of a Mabu Ganatra gaming system._

_**Sound Processor:**__ Similar to the sound processing hardware of a standard Northern Regions putatrum and an average 1033-year-model warship communicator. Inadequate quality. Similar to Earthen videogaming technologies. _

The last part to the strange piece was all he needed to read. Similar to Earthen videogaming technologies? Oh, what would he do without his suit?! He picked it up gently in his jaws as well as the desktop speakers, and carried them back to the main part of the island.

* * *

_**Riley**_

* * *

Riley continued yelling into the communicator. "Mayday! Mayday! We have been captured by Captain Frightbeard's crew! Wash Buckler's crew, we need them!"

A response came back. "Wash Buckler disappeared from Skylands more than one hundred years ago. But we are willing to help. You're going to have to point us out to you though because we're right where the distress call is coming from... but there's no ship."

It sounded like a more youthful tone of voice to Riley, and there wasn't any pirate accent to him. But she honestly didn't care. "Of course, yeah, fine, whatever! Listen for the dragon yelling Ride the Lightning!" It was one of the first things that had popped into her mind. It was her brother's catchphrase, and she, due to having a gurgley tone similar to his, would sound almost identical to him. She would normally love teasing him about it, but now, it seemed more like a lifeline.

"Any day now!" Wham-Shell called back to her as he used his mace like a sword, deflecting Frightbeard as he took swing after swing at him.

"I'm trying!" Riley hissed. She moved away from the communicator and looked over the starboard of the ship. Then the port. That's when she saw it—a ship way smaller than Captain Frightbeard's, surrounded by an armada of more ships. It looked pathetic on the water compared to Frightbeard's magnificent ship.

"Fools!" Frightbeard yelled, laughing heartily. "Even if ye do manage to defeat me, ye won't be able to lock me away without the Chest of Exile!"

Wham-Shell and Riley both stopped for a second, looking at him in shock. "What?"

"Ye need the Chest of Exile to lock me away!" Frightbeard laughed. "And ye left that all the way back there!" He pointed with his hooked hand behind them. "Far, far, FAR back there!"

"Elli!" Wham-Shell yelled into the hole in the ship's deck. "You're going to have to go into the water and find the Chest of Exile!"

"Chains, remember?" She called back up to him. Riley froze in horror as Frightbeard raised his sword, preparing to swipe it across Wham-Shell's head.

"No!" She shrieked. As she did, a lightning fast jet of water was issued from her jaws. It smacked Frightbeard in the chest, throwing his sword out of his hand. It speared the ground in front of Riley, but she was too horrified with shock to notice anything. All she could see in her mind was Frightbeard preparing to deliver the final blow to Wham-Shell.

"Quick—while he's distracted!" Wham-Shell stuck his mace down through the hole in the deck. "Put the parts to the chains close to my mace and I'll break them! Then you can grab onto my mace and I'll put you in the water!"

"That's not going to work, you imbecile!" Elli snorted. "I can't move more than a few feet!"

"Good Eon's grave!" Wham-Shell cursed. He jumped into the hole, leaving Riley on the deck to fend for herself.

She leaned over the port banister of the ship and yelled into the wind, "RIDE THE LIGHTNING!"

"THAT'S HER!" A voice hollered from the tiny ship far below them. "FIRE YOUR CANNONS!" Though she could tell they were screaming at the top of their lungs, they sounded very much like ants.

"BUT THERE'S NOTHING THERE!"

"THERE IS! TRUST ME!"

Right as the pirates on the Phantom Tide's deck realized that Wham-Shell had disappeared back below deck, Frightbeard made a mad dive for his sword. Riley hissed and jumped in front of the sword, flashing her teeth at him. She wasn't about to let him do anything.

But he wasn't afraid of her. He grinned sadistically and used his large size to his advantage. He kicked her, sending her sailing against the banister of the ship's side. Winded, she gave a loud cry of pain and fell to the ground. She had hit her back on the banister—hard. She couldn't feel the lower half of her body.

She tried to get back up, to defend herself, but her back legs weren't responding, and her one front leg was still broken. She fell. _She _was broken. She couldn't fight anymore...

"Alright, go Elli!" Wham-Shell tossed Elli over the side of the deck. All Riley saw of her was her tail as it shimmered in the sunlight, seeming to wave her goodbye. Frightbeard suddenly forced her head to face him.

"Take a good look, lassie," he said, grinning harshly. He put his sword's blade against her throat. "'Cause it'll be the last face ye'll ever see..." He drove his sword towards her neck, and Wham-Shell shouted her name shrilly, before throwing his mace at Frightbeard.

* * *

_**Drobot**_

* * *

Drobot looked up from the communicator, sweating under his helmet. He had finally finished it. It would connect with the frequencies of their Portal Master's Xbox 360 easily, thanks to the strange piece of hardware he had found. All that was missing was Pop Fizz's potion for its energy.

The blue gremlin and suit-wearing dragon looked at each other and grinned wildly in excitement. "So this is the moment of truth!" Pop Fizz exclaimed. "Go on, try it! It should only take a few drops—so don't waste all the potion!"

Drobot didn't need to be told that twice. He dribbled a couple of droplets of the potion into a flap on the top of the communicator, and it appeared to glow. He gave the rest of the potion, still in the potion vial, to Pop Fizz. Pop Fizz stashed it away in his potion bag.

The communicator's flap continued to glow, and then so did the cracks between the numbered buttons, and the thin line around the speakers (Drobot had replaced the old, rusted speakers with the desktop speakers he'd found in the forest). Drobot had also attached the radio mouthpiece he'd found to the communicator (the one that had been built into the communicator had been trashed).

"You sure this will work?" Pop Fizz asked, swiveling his ears towards the communicator inquiringly.

Drobot didn't confirm nor deny the question. "It may. It may not. We will not know until we test it," he answered. "But the supply parts I connected with it should link it directly to our Portal Masters on Earth. I put in a sample of my own scales. My frozen form on Earth will have the same genetic signature. It will locate that specific piece of technology thanks to the potion you created (which was also created using my power cores, which may help further), and with the pieces I found in the forest of the strange part, it should connect directly with the Xbox Three-Sixty. I just hope somebody is in there, listening."

Drobot picked up the mouthpiece with his paw and put it to his muzzle. "Hello? Portal Masters of Earth. This is Drobot, the Tech element Skylander."

* * *

_**Sheila**_

* * *

Sheila was busy reading a book on her bed. This was not the gaming room; they could still go in it to play other games, but the Xbox 360 with the Skylanders on it was strictly off limits. Sheila couldn't stand just watching them sit there like that. She had seen them in true action. She had seen them alive, and moving… And then, Spyro had explained everything that had been going on, and their mother had absolutely REFUSED them to go back!

She remembered it all too well. Her mother had gone back to saying that they were nothing more than toys and that they were poisoning their minds. She said they were nothing more than a money scheme by Activision and Toys For Bob and that they weren't living. It must have all been a dream.

Yeah. Right. Sheila often found herself pacing back and forth, wondering what had happened to the Skylanders since they had last managed to see them.

She sighed and looked back down at her book. _Might as well finish this book for that stupid project, _she thought, disconcerted.

Though, that was before Ben came streaking into her room. Sheila's room wasn't messy like most children's—Ben's was a lot worse—but hers was rather clean. The flooring was hardwood, and the walls were a simplistic white. A TV sat on her dresser, proudly gazing across the room. A desk sat against the wall to the right of the dresser, books and papers and other various items stacked on it.

But when Ben came running into her room, the cleanliness of it mattered no more, for he was running so fast he hit her desk and sent quite a few of the stacks of books scattering across the floor.

"Ben!" Sheila cried. "What're you doing?!"

"Look… Looking for you!" He panted, getting back up. His arm was dark red from where he'd hit it on the desk. Sheila could tell already it was going to bruise. "Come… come qui… quick!" He continued breathing heavily, his brown hair spiked so crazily, anybody who didn't know him would get the impression he was insane. "Mom's gone to the store down the street real quick, Dad's at work late… we… we need to go…!"

Sheila didn't need to be told twice what 'we need to go' meant. She jumped up and followed him. "Why didn't you just say so rather than coming in here and causing a huge racket?"

"Because Drobot talked!" Ben exclaimed.

"He _what_?" Sheila shook her head. "You mean, like, through the game? At you?"

"No. I don't know what's going on at the Citadel, Mom's got the TV caddy-cornered, remember? But we have to go quick!"

"But I thought Mom got rid of the broken Portal!"

"So?" Ben flashed her a smile and cupped his hands around his mouth. "ZEUS!"

The dog came bounding from the living room. His tail was easily going five thousand miles per hour. "Come on, Zeus," Ben murmured, leading him into the game room.

In order to get there, they had to pass the hall from Sheila's room to the living room (the hall also branched off into Ben's bedroom (which was a horrible disaster) and a bathroom and a hallway closet), and from there, they'd have to pass the television, the front door, and then they'd be at the game room.

Like Ben had said, the TV was caddy-cornered in the right half of the rather large room. The futon was in the same position it'd always been. The Xbox was hot as all get-out (Sheila had touched it out of curiosity) and she thought it was a wonder it hadn't actually shut off on its own by then…

The Skylanders sat on the three unbroken Portal of Powers, staring blankly at nothing it seemed. Sheila elbowed Ben. "What did you say about Drobot talking?" Sheila then made her way over to their series one Drobot figure. The Tech dragon's chest was puffed out in what appeared to be an intimidation attempt, and he had his right front paw raised, claws glinting. His wings were aligned with his head and back, while his tail kinked loosely over his back. Drobot's mouth was open in a silent snarl, and he looked like he'd been trying to shoot lasers when he was frozen.

"Not the figure," Ben shook his head. "It came from the TV!"

"Of course you can hear them talking from the TV!" Sheila burst. "I can hear them now yabbering on about moving or something—so you brought me in here for that?"

"No, _no_! He was talking directly from the Xbox!" Ben explained heatedly. "Just listen! Let's see if he'll do it again…"

"I heard all of that. You twelve-year-olds bicker worse than some of the Skylanders I know," Drobot's harsh and booming voice WAS coming from the Xbox! "Don't try to come into Skylands. That's foolish. Stay. We just need you to do a few things. Do you see Fright Rider, Sonic Boom, or Cynder on the Portal of Powers?"

Sheila and Ben got to searching right away. Sheila flared up once she realized none of the three were there. "No! All missing! They're not dead, are they?!"

"No," Drobot said robotically. "But they've been corrupted. Odd… Apparently whenever the dark powers of Cadaver encroach upon them, they would be freed of the curse lain by Kaos. Unfortunate. They have been corrupted by a dark dragon's powers… Or at least Rider, Cynder, and Sonic Boom have. The Skylanders at the Citadel are talking about moving to a new location so that they can lie low for a while. It will throw the enemy off our trail. Pop Fizz and I are currently at my workshop… I will take the communicator that is allowing me to speak with you and return to the Skylanders. If they say they are leaving, speak to me through the Earth contraption."

"Drobot—wait—we can't!" Ben sputtered. "Our parents could be home any second now!"

Then a knock came on the door.

Ben whirled around to face his sister. "I'm going back whether they like it or not! I'm tired of sitting around like a useless moron! Now you can come or you can stay."

Sheila looked between the door and the Xbox. Sheila backed away. "I can't… I can't leave!"

"Sheila! Ben! What's going on in there? One of you open the door!"

Ben's eyes blazed. "Well, suit yourself! Hey, Zeus, catch!" Ben picked up one of the Portals (sliding the Skylanders on it to the other two Portals) and threw it. Zeus instinctively ran after it and caught it in his jaws. It cracked and splintered. Zeus, alarmed, dropped it and ran from it.

The swirling Portal broke, and an even BIGGER one appeared beneath it. Ben stepped into it and it disappeared.

Sheila gaped after him. "B… Ben…?!"

* * *

_**Elli**_

* * *

Just as Elli was thrown over the banister and into the sea, she heard Wham-Shell give a shrill shriek. She wasn't too sure what he had said, but it had sounded like he'd screamed the water dragoness's name, 'Riley'.

Elli dove into the water, feeling it breathe life back into her. She hadn't been in open sea for ages. She couldn't even count. The Phantom Tide had captured her around the same time they had been defeated by Thumpback and the other Giants around two years ago. She missed the vastness of the sea and the openness of the water.

But she couldn't forget what Wham-Shell had released her for. She had been told to go find the Chest of Exile. The ship, due to being at least ten thousand years old, didn't have the best of engines. Rather, it was quite slow. So they hadn't moved too far from where Frightbeard and his crew had been released.

She swam strongly through the water. She could have easily swum away, leaving Riley and Wham-Shell to fight off the pirates and return to her family at the Wondrous Waters' Misty Lagoon. She could have easily headed for the Gillman Settlement's to search for Gill Grunt.

But she wouldn't do that to them. They had risked it all to save her and she'd make a poor girlfriend for Gill Grunt if she had left a Skylander and his colleague to die at the hands of pirates. She had heard their gruesome stories, she had listened to their brutal training inside the Chest of Exile. She didn't need proof they'd kill without reasoning.

She was much faster at swimming than the boat was at propelling itself through the water. She was back at the Chest of Exile in barely an hour and a half. _Good Aries, that boat travels slow! _While the Chest was awfully small and was scratched and broken in several places, it could hold some of the most deadliest creatures Skylands had ever seen.

Mostly underwater kingdoms and countries would fight off these demonic entities, and then would send them into the Chest of Exile. The Chest of Exile was regarded as a sort of Hell in these parts, only it did not grant peace for those that were trapped inside, nor did it kill them. They were trapped, alone, with others who were just as willing to kill one another as they were, while in Hell, most would feel the need to call a truce amongst each other.

Elli picked up the open Chest from the sandy floor of the ocean with her webbed hands, and turned around, waving her tail swiftly and strongly against the sea current. After a few minutes she headed to the surface to catch a breath of air (unlike Riley, she didn't need one every hour or so as she spoke underwater—Elli did her best to stay quiet, and then it would only cost her one breath per every two hours or so). After that, she continued on her way.

But once she returned, she was surprised, to say the least, at what she found. She swam upwards, out of the depths of the ocean, so she could see exactly what was happening. The salty air didn't bother her, nor did the roll of the ocean. The Phantom Tide's ship was nowhere to be seen. She had expected that, as the ship had a curse on it, but she could see the Phantom Tide itself—the pirate crew was on a small raft in the water. The small armada of ships that had responded to her distress call had surrounded it, and had their cannons all pointed at the Phantom Tide.

Each of the ships surrounding the Phantom Tide had blue flags on them, with the letters 'AF' on them. The ships themselves were wooden warships, but were ironclad. They only had holes in their sides where the cannons stuck out of the starboards and ports.

"Wham-Shell? Riley?" She called, her hands still clutching the Chest of Exile.

"Up here," a smooth, youthful, male voice called down to her from the nearest of the armada. She looked up to see who it was and it was a water dragon like Riley! But he didn't have the gurgley tone and looked slightly different from Riley. He didn't have any rock-like studs going down from his forehead to the base of his tail. No, all he had was a smooth, serpentine body, but with amphibious feet.

Elli swam over to the side of the boat. "I can't reach up, mermaid," she told him. He nodded and threw a life raft over the side of the boat, tethered to it by a thick, heavily braided rope. She put the Chest of Exile in her left hand and grabbed onto the rope with her right.

On the deck, she was greeted with a rather unsightly scene. Wham-Shell was crouched over Riley, his body being racked with sobs. Riley's throat was bandaged, but she was a bloody mess. She was breathing, but faintly. Her back was at an odd angle, about halfway down, it appeared to lean more left.

"What happened?" Elli demanded, dropping the Chest of Exile at the smooth-talking male Water dragon's feet. He helped her out of the life raft and set her down next to Wham-Shell and Riley. She winced at the ship's wooden deck. While she could go a short amount of time without being moisturized by water, she said that she needed to be constantly because if she wasn't, she'd become weak and would feel vulnerable.

Wham-Shell shook his head. "J-just help Qu-Quinton," Wham-Shell sobbed, pointing at the male Water dragon. The ship's deck was basic. The part she, Riley, and Wham-Shell were in was the flat part of the deck, the center. Quinton was standing on the captain's helm, which was raised in elevation from the center deck slightly, and had a steering wheel and a loud-looking megaphone above the steering wheel. He wore a black hat with the same 'AF' letters on it.

A blue dinosaur-like creature walked up to him, blue eyes narrowed. He wore a golden suit with a strange, bumpy collar around his neck. He had a dorsal-fin like ridge going from his forehead down to his neck before the suit began covering him. "Now can we go? Frightbeard's nothing more than a speck in the ocean, quite literally. I need to get to the next Aqua-Fighter tournament!"

"Hush, Rip Tide, I am an Aqua Fighter as well, I know," Quinton told him, not taking his eyes off the Phantom Tide of which he was staring at. He then roared into the megaphone, "YOU WILL NOW RETURN TO THE CHEST OF EXILE! YOU WILL NEVER BE SEEN AGAIN! THIS TIME, THERE WILL BE NO RETURNING!" He nudged Rip Tide. "Hand me the Chest of Exile!"

Rip Tide nodded and grabbed the Chest of Exile, handing it to Quinton. Quinton opened it up and called over to Elli. "Can you get him to throw his sword?"

"What, me?" Elli squeaked in slight disbelief.

"Yes, can you go into the water and trick him into throwing his sword?" Quinton asked. "I'll understand if you wish not to, and if you don't, I can go in your place."

Elli furiously flapped her tail on the deck. "No way!" She exclaimed.

Quinton grinned. "Alright then! Rip Tide, can you put Elli back into the water?"

"Of course, Quinton," Rip Tide nodded, making his way over to Elli. "Careful," he told her.

* * *

**I know, five buhmillion words. XD Anyway, I purposely went through Ben and Sheila's part quickly. I'm trying to keep my chapters, at the most, 10,000 words, and I believe this one went over that (by a thousand, I think xD) so I felt the need to cut out some parts and that's what ended up happening. I butchered mah own storeh. Anyays, this was meant to be Air Elemental's birthday, er, present from me, but I wasn't able to finish it in time and I guess Snow Quest's chapter 10 ended up being that. Don't forget to check out her stories "The New Air Giant", "Skylanders' Adventures", or my other three Skylander's stories "My Story (Hex's Entry)" (2 chapters), "The Most Frightening of Rides" (7 chapters), and "Snow Quest" (10 chapters)!**

**I'd also like to mention Seraph of Enigma's "Odyssey", which is where I got the idea of using the name "Seraphina" for the lost princess. XandyPants is also the creator of the name "Chance Evergold" mentioned as the creator of the speakers I think. **

**Stay tuned for more!**

**I fixed a mistake. It said in Sundrake's info paragraph "Last seen in 1037" and I about kicked myself in the face. He was last seen in 10037, sorry guys. xD**


	30. Chapter 30 Hold-Off Note

**Okay, so you may have possibly noticed, but I haven't exactly been my upbeat self lately. I've completely erased and restarted chapter 30 to Dragon King at least three times by now, and I just can't get happy with what I write out. So if I get slow and stop updating for a while, I haven't gotten bored with my stories or anything, I've just gotten very depressed.**

**I'm bipolar, I get like that sometimes. Ignore me if I snap or something at you, I mean nothing by it. **

**Numbuh 94, over and out.**


End file.
